Digimon koukou!
by Hiroko-ka
Summary: So, the chosen children/Tamers all go to the same school, and the new kid is no one other than Makino Ruki. AU. I explain more in the introduction; rated T to be safe. -REVISED-
1. INTRODUCTION

~REVISED~ I am now re-writing the first few chapters. I think there are some pretty big changes here, (more obvious ones like I'm moving most of the main characters up to middle school) and they'll hopefully show more in the next few chapters. I hope it seems better~ (Also, I'm leaving in some of my notes I put in all that time ago when I first started writing this. They're funny to read, you see.)

Makino Ruki is the new girl who seems very cold to everyone.

Akiyama Ryou is a popular guy, but it seems like he's hiding something.

Katou Juri is the sweet girl everyone gets on with, but is there more to her than just a simple, sweet girl?

Matsuda Takato is the shy, somewhat naive guy, who secretly likes Juri.

Lee Jenrya is the pacifist who tries to stop fights at all costs - almost like he's afraid...

Lee Shiuchon is Jenrya's happy little sister in nursery, her best friends are Ai and Makoto.

Mcoy Alice is the "weird" or "strange" girl that almost everyone avoids, except Jenrya. Why is she like that?

Yagami Taichi is popular, and has a crush on his best friend's girlfriend, Sora. He's captain of the football team and protective of his younger sister; Hikari.

Takenouchi Sora has been Taichi's closest friend since childhood. She is dating Yamato, not that many of the girls in her class like that. Whilst energetic and strong-willed, Sora seems to be avoiding something, or someone...

Ishida Yamato is the lead singer in the band "Digital Wolves" and also Taichi's best friend. He's also one of the school heart throbs. He feels an odd protectiveness over Takeru - yet they've only known each other for only two years!

Tachikawa Mimi is one of the popular girls, and can seem spoilt, but she is a kind girl at heart.

Kido Jou is a prefect and tries to look after the younger kids. Responsible and honest, a lot of kids consider him extremely mature, despite how a few of his friends knowing how to tease him. Jou is constantly under pressure; his ambition to be a doctor well known.

Izumi Koushiro is a very intelligent guy, who hangs out mostly in the computer room with Ken and Miyako. He still hangs out with a lot of his old friends though. There is a secret that he has been avoiding confronting, ever since he overheard his parent's talking...

Motomiya Daisuke is considered a bit of a clown, he does have a surprising sweet side, however. He admires Taichi and has a major crush on Hikari, and is jealous of Takeru and Hikari's friendship.

Yagami Hikari is a sweet girl, and Taichi's younger sister, who a lot of guys like- especially Daisuke! She's always been really good friends with Takeru and has a huge fear of the dark.

Takaishi Takeru was a new kid 2 years ago, and is now pretty popular, as well as athletic. He and Yamato have a special connection - but neither of them understands why!

Ichijoji Ken is another popular guy, he's at the top of his class, but he likes to spend most of his time with Miyako and Koushiro in the computer room. His sudden personality changes when he was younger have never left the minds of those close to him, or himself.

Inoue Miyako is good with computers, and spends a lot of time in the computer room with Ken and Koushiro. He crush on Ken is pretty obvious to all except Ken himself! Miyako looks up to Mimi as the type of older sister she wishes she had.

Hida Iori, a smart kid, who practices kendo when he has time. He's always very quiet and seems mature and somewhat sad for a kid his age...

Orimoto Izumi, once very unpopular for being "snobbish" suddenly started acting different. Not that anyone cared, if anything, it made her very popular! Not even her old best friends; Takuya, Kouji, Tomoki and Junpei are sure why she changed, nor do they like her pretending to be someone else...

Minamoto Kouji, a bit of a loner, but is very popular with a lot of the girls! He seems to have feelings for Izumi, though he would never admit it. His growing closeness to Ruki bothers them both, as well. Kouji likes to avoid going home as much as possible, and has an odd connection to Kouichi - who he's only known a few years.

Kanbara Takuya longs for an adventure. He seems a bit of a clown, but his closest friends know this isn't so much the case. He's very energetic and his crush on Izumi is slowly becoming more apparent.

Shibayama Junpei, a bit of happy-go-lucky guy with a slight mean streak. He was great friends with Takuya, Kouji, Izumi and Tomoki until an incident that took place some time ago. Despite that, he manages to talk to them all occasionally, except Izumi, who he claims to love. Her personality change has yet to dawn on him. He doesn't seem to have many friends, and feels bribing people with chocolate and showing off will get him friends...

Himi Tomoki is often teased at school, on account of his whiny attitude. He used to hide behind Izumi a lot, until she changed. Tomoki doesn't really have many friends, but usually tags along with Takuya, who he looks up to as a big brother.

Koichi Kimura is often mistaken for Kouji's twin, but they insist they aren't - they've only known each other a few years! So why do they seem is it that they feel like they've known each other longer?

The two class clowns of class 9B: Shiota Hirokazu and Kitagawa Kenta, who majorly get on Ruki's nerves. They really admire Ryou for his 3 year Digimon card game win streak and are also good friends of Takato's.

[Old Note]: OK, after all that I bet its fallen outta your brain, ne? XD Well, now here's a list of the characters, ages, classes etc. (I know I know, "When will she shut up and get on with the damn story?" It's just a general reference, probably for my sake mainly OTL)

Yagami Taichi (Tai Kamiya) - Age 16, 2nd grade High School, class 11C

Takenouchi Sora (Sora Takenouchi) - Age 16, 2nd grade High School, class 11C

Ishida Yamato (Matt Ishida) - Age 16, 2nd grade High School, class 11C

Izumi Koushiro (Izzy Izumi) - Age 15, 1st grade High School, class 10A

Tachikawa Mimi (Mimi Tachikawa) - Age 15, 1st grade High School, class 10A

Kido Jou (Joe Kido) - Age 17, 3rd grade High School, class 12B

Yagami Hikari (Kari Kamiya) - Age 13, 2nd grade Middle School, class 8B

Takaishi Takeru (TK Takaishi) - Age 13, 2nd grade Middle School, class 8B

Motomiya Daisuke(Davis Motomiya) - Age 13, 2nd grade Middle School, class 8B

Inoue Miyako (Yolei Inoue) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9A

Hida Iori (Cody Hida) - Age 10, 5th grade Elementary School, class 5A

Ichijoji Ken (Ken Ichijoji) - Age 13, 2nd grade Middle School, class 8B

Makino Ruki (Rika Nonaka) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Akiyama Ryo (Ryo Akiyama) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Matsuda Takato (Takato Matsuki) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Katou Juri (Jeri Katou) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Lee Jenrya (Henry Wong) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Mcoy Alice (Alice Mcoy) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Shiota Hirokazu (Kazu Shioda) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Kitagawa Kenta (Kenta Kitagawa) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Orimoto Izumi (Zoe Orimoto) - Age 13, 2nd grade Middle School, class 8C

Minamoto Kouji (Koji Minamoto) - Age 13, 2nd grade Middle School, class 8C

Kanbara Takuya (Takuya Kanbara) - Age 13, 2nd grade Middle School, class 8C

Shibayama Junpei (JP Shibayama) - Age 14, 3rd grade Middle School, class 9B

Himi Tomoki (Tommy Himi) - Age 10, 5th grade Elementary School, class 5A

Kimura Koichi (Koichi Kimura) - Age 13, 2nd grade Middle School, class 8B

Lee Shiachon (Suzie Wong) - Age 5, Nursery School

Ai and Makoto (Ai and Mako) - Age 5 Nursery School

Japanese names first, dub names in brackets~


	2. The first day

~REVISED~ Notes at the end.

[Old note] Ok, Im hoping this is gonna last quite a while (Dunno yet tho. XD). But I wont be going "First Day", "Second day" always, it's just the first few chapters. I may skip a few months from time to time. Oh and I believe this to be set in a completely alternate reality. Anyway! Enough drabbly crap! Lets get this show on the road!

Digimon koukou!

Class 9B stared at Ruki. Ruki didnt stare back. Why should she? She'd put up with this for years. 6 years to be exact. And she didnt really care anymore anyway. She stared at the floor, whilst the old fossil named Saki-sensei introduced her, "This is Makino Ruki, she will be joining us this year, and I..."

'...want you to make her feel welcome' mimicked Ruki, in her head.

Saki-sensei turned to her, "So, Ruki-kun, please tell us about yourself" Ruki sighed very slightly.

She looked up at the class, and fake-smiled sweetly, "Hi, my name is Makino Ruki, I come from several places all over Japan, 'cuz my mom, is always called all over the place. She's a model." Most of the kid's eyes dulled. A few of the boys were whispering among themselves.

Ruki caught snippets, like, "She's cute!" or "A model? Wow!" Ruki rolled her eyes, 'Yeah yeah! Same every year...' she thought, annoyed. Then she noticed one boy. He had greyish-brown hair. He wore slouchy jeans, and a purpley-blue hoodie. His eyes wide looking straight at her. Deep blue eyes. Almost like he...saw through her. Their eyes met and she glanced away. The boy smiled slightly to himself.

After what seemed like a years worth of deja vu, Ruki was finally directed to her seat - next to a spacey looking girl. She was called Alice. Ruki sat next to her, expecting some sort of "Well hi there!" in a sickly sweet voice. But she didnt. All she got was a blank look. Then the girl turned her head back to her desk, and continued to stare. Ruki almost smiled, 'That was...different.'

After 2 hours of seemingly pointless lectures about gravity (double science), the bell rang. Ruki stood up abruptly, packed all her things into her bag, and left quickly. She walked quickly down the hall - to be stopped by the boy who had looked at her earlier! He was quite a bit taller than she thought, but she wasn't bothered. She looked at the ground, said "Sorry" quietly and she carried on walking past him,

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ryou!" he said simply and sweetly.

She stopped and turned, "Eh?" He smiled at her. A genuine smile. She was taken aback for a second, then she shook her head, and said, "Uh, nice to meet you." She turned away and carried on walking, only just realising she wasn't sure which way she was supposed to go. She wasn't gonna ask Ryou though.

Ryou turned, "Wait!" He went after her, "I..I wanted to talk with you!" This annoyed Ruki; talk? What on earth did they have to talk about? Unless he wanted to ask...

She turned and asked stingily, "What is it?" Ryou went back a step.

He then grinned and said, "Hey...Ruuki-_chan_!" Ruki blinked, 'What the...?'

She folded her arms, "Whatever! Pretty boy! I bet you always got away with things because of your so-called "charm" Well it doesn't work with me."

"Wow! You think I'm pretty?" he said teasingly.

She gave him an annoyed look, "Whatever, pretty boy!" she said with contempt, turned away, continued walking.

"Um...if you're going to the grounds, you're kinda going the wrong way..." Ryou trailed off. Maybe he shouldn't have said that?

Ruki stopped, turned back to him and glared at him, "No, I know. I simply have something to pick up, thank you." Then she realised: what happened to her cover? She normally acted like someone who was just a quiet, polite girl, what was getting her to act like this?

She tried her best to put on a smile, "Um, yes, thank you."

Ryo laughed and said, "Hey, you're cute when you smile!" Ruki shook her head, her "smile" dissapearing, 'Just bear with it a few more seconds, Ruki.'

"See ya." She said and she carried on walking.

Ryou called out her name, "Ruki, I think I will see ya." Ruki just carried on walking. Then Ryou said something. Something no one had ever said before. There was only one person who knew, and it wasn't this guy. How did he know? "By the way, Ruki-chan, I look forward to seeing your real smile!"

Ruki paused. 'What the-?'

"Yeah, whatever, pretty boy!" and carried on down the corridor. Ryou smiled.

As Ruki walked down the corridor, determined not to run into that idiot again, she passed a room. She caught a part of a conversation,

"...yeah, but she seemed kinda down and.." Ruki looked to her left. It was a computer room. Inside were three people. Sitting on a small desk was a girl, wearing a bandana, which pulled back her purple hair. She wore big glasses, and a thin red jumper, with a purple knee length skirt, long blue socks, and white trainers. The boy she was talking to had short, dark purple hair, and was wearing a grey suit-thing (you know what I mean XD). He was leaning against the desk, next to the girl. Another boy, who sat across from them on a chair, had dark red-ish brown hair, and was wearing the high school's green uniform.

As Ruki walked past, the girl looked around, "Oh! Hey! You're the new girl I saw earlier. Makeno-san was it? Come over here!" Ruki wasn't sure what to do. She stood in the doorway. The girl smiled, "Hey c'mon! Don't be shy, come over here!"

Ruki felt embarassed and replied stubbornly, "I'm _not_ shy!" she walked over to the girl, who looked rather taken aback.

The girl then folded her arms, "Well, if you're gonna be like that, Makeno-san!"

"It's Makino." Ruki told her.

The boy with purple hair sighed a little, "Are you two really gonna fight...?" Ruki couldn't believe this. She'd been caught off guard. Twice in one day.

And so she took a step back, "S-Sorry, um..." 'Calm and polite.'

"I'm Inoue Miyako! This is Ichijouji Ken-kun!" Miyako said, putting her hand on the boy with purple hair's shoulder. Ruki didnt want to seem too soft, so she replied with,

"I'm Ruki."

Ken reached for Ruki's hand, and shook it, politely saying, "Nice to meet you, Ruki-san" As he did this, Ruki noticed something flicker in Miyako's eyes. It wasn't a positive flicker, that was for sure. 'Whatever, dont really care' Ruki thought. A tap on the shoulder, and Ruki turned. Another smiling face. Ruki thought her cheek muscles would start hurting, just by seeing all these annoying smiles. 'They...Hmph, the way they can just switch smiles on, it's like they've never experienced being upset!' She recalled a word she used to use a lot when she was younger, when she cared about seeming tough; 'Weak.' Nontheless, Ruki smiled back, without geniunity. But she was so used to smiling without it, it wouldnt have shown. It couldnt have. Plus no one had ever shown any signs of realising. Except that boy, Ryou- she scolded herself, 'He's just a stupid, mindless, insensitive pretty-boy who gets by on looks!'

The older boy, who was stood in front of her, interrupted her, "Er..excuse me? You seem kinda spaced out.."

Ruki shook her head, her "smile" faded, "No I wasnt! And...you are...?"

The boy laughed a little, before replying, "I'm Izumi Koushiro! Nice to meet you, Ruki-kun!" He shook her hand.

Ruki "smiled" and replied, "Nice to meet you too, Izumi-senpai"

"Hey, call me "Koushiro-senpai" atleast!"

"Okay...Koushiro-senpai." Koushiro beamed,

"Better!"

Ruki felt an awkward silence coming, but it never did, because a tall boy, with glasses and dark blue hair ran down the hall, "H-hey! No littering in the hall! You the-!" The sound of the boy coming to an abrupt halt was heard, "M-Mimi-kun?" he sounded embarassed.

Another voice was heard, this time, a sweet girly voice, "Hm? Jou-senpai? What is it?"

"N-nothing!" was Jou's quick embarrased reply to the girl named Mimi.

A couple of other girls giggled, "Lets go, Mimi-chan"

"'Kay... See you later! Jou-senpai!"

Footsteps were heard, as well as Jou's embarassed reply, "Y-yeah, see you... Mimi-kun." He then walked back, past the computer room, but didnt notice Ruki or anyone else. She heard him sigh as he walked past.

"What was _that_ all about?" she asked, though she wish she hadn't, because she just remebered that she didnt care,

"Oh, that?" was Miyako's reply, "Happens quite a bit, me and Ken-kun reckon Jou-senpai really likes Mimi-chan!"

Koushiro almost choked on his drink, "A-are you serious?" he spluttered,

"Oooh! Looks like someones j-e-a-l-o-u-s! Wait 'till I tell Mimi-chan~!" teased Miyako,

"D-don't! I mean..I don't _like_ like Mimi-chan, I just...look I _don't_ have a crush on her!"

"Of course you don't! Thats why you're all red!" and Miyako was right, Koushiro looked a little flustered. Ruki looked around. They were all laughing, smiling, and in Koushiro's case, blushing, in a completely happy world of their own! Ruki was so far from their world-

"*gasp* Oh Ryou-san! Do you mean that?" Ruki glanced at the window sharply. Outside, Ryou was surrounded by a gaggle of girls. They were fauning over him, and blushing etc. Ryo had a sickly sweet smile - and the sight of it made Ruki beyond annoyed. But then she noticed something. The way Ryou was smiling...it was not unlike her own. Her own false smile, 'Does he...?' She stopped. It didnt matter, she didnt care. She was imagining things.

The bell rang, and Ruki quickly walked out, but not without Miyako calling out, "Bye! We'll see you sometime right?" Ruki didn't reply.

2 more agonisingly slow lessons went by, and it was lunch. Ruki had avoided as many people as possible, especially that idiot pretty-boy, Ryo. As she walked down the corridor, toward the canteen, she walked past a boy and a girl. The boy was wearing a yellow and green top, grey shorts, green boots, and an annoying hat which showed only a little of his blondish hair. The girl was wearing a pink and white striped top, with holes in the shoulders, yellow shorts and pink and white boots. She had short chocolate brown hair, 'Probaly dating' Ruki thought.

As she walked past them, the boy stopped her, by putting his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, you're the new kid right? Makino-san, wasn't it? I'm Takeru! I was the new kid here 2 years ago. I know what it's like, but don't worry, most of the kids won't bite, except Daisuke-kun of course." he laughed, and the girl playfully punched him on the shoulder, "Haha, stop teasing Daisuke-kun."

Takeru stared at her, "Did you actually just _defend_ Daisuke?" he said mock-shocked-ly.

The girl laughed again, then looked to Ruki and said, "Oh, I'm Hikari by the way! Nice to meet you!" Ruki was sick of smiling. It was stupid.

Nontheless, she "smiled" back, "I'm Makino Ruki."

"Nice to meet you Makino-san." Then Ruki noticed another boy behind them. His head poked round the corner, then quickly darted back round. Noticing Ruki's intrigue, the other two poked their heads round the corner,

"Daisuke-kun?" The boy named Daisuke walked casually round the corner,

"W-what?" he said, his face flushing when he saw Hikari,

"Looks like he's stalking you again." said Takeru, exasperatedly. Hikari rolled her eyes. Ruki shook her head, and carried on walking, leaving the other 3 confused.

When the final bell rang, Ruki asked herself, "_How _will I get through this year?"

As she began walking back, a familiar voice asked, "Hey! You walk this way too?"

She turned and groaned, "Ryou...san..."

"Hey, dont get overexcited!" he said, playfully winking at her. They walked in silence for the rest of the way. But it wasn't an awkward silence, it was...surprisingly comfortable. When they parted ways, Ruki carried on walking home with a simple "Later".

Ryou stopped, and asked her, "Hey, will you smile for real tommorow?"  
Ruki pretended not to have heard, but she had. And it was probaly the most unexpected thing she ever expected to hear. And she hated it.

~Okay, this has been revised. I hope it seems better. Also, as much as it seems it, I am aiming to /not/ make this into one of those "Ruki is an ice queen and only Ryou can melt her heart" sorta fics.~


	3. The second day

~REVISED: Notes at the end~

Ruki got herself up early. 6:00am early, so she could avoid her mother, who she hated. All her mum could do was talk about her latest photo shoots, and how Ruki should get into it, 'Like hell' was Ruki's main thought on the subject.

When her mum got up, Ruki was already walking out the door, "Oh, Ruki-chan! I need to talk to yo-!" _Slam!_ went the door.

Ruki walked up the front garden path, "Yeah, sure, "I picked this dress, especially for you darling! Look at these frills!"" Ruki mimicked, and she sighed. As she walked, she passed the path which Ryou used to go home, 'Wonder where he lives exactly?' then she shook her head, "I dont care for that idiot pretty boy!" she muttered.

It was spring. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. She'd arrive at school soon. She looked away from the beautiful trees quickly, as though it hurt to look at them. It was the season when he left... As she walked, she began to sing the chorus to the song that meant so much to her,

"Zutto zutto issho ni iru to Ano yuuhi ni yakusoku shita kara Sabishii toki mo Hirogaru orenji o nagamete "Kitto kitto daijoubu da yo" ano yuuhi ga sasayaite- "

-Translation-

"We'll be together forever, forever, Because we promised that setting sun In lonely times, we can look at that lengthening orange That setting sun will whisper, "It will be okay"-"

She was interrupted by something she glimpsed. As she passed a sakura tree, a boy, who was standing beside the tree, was staring at her. He was wearing a blue t-shirt, and 3-quarter length trousers. He had messy-ish brown hair, and brown eyes. But the most peculiar thing were the yellow goggles, which he was wearing on his head, "Ah-ah!" was his terrified squeak, because Ruki had begun glaring at him. She was embarrassed really, 'How dare he!' she thought, angrily. He was going red now, and Ruki was having trouble suppressing a blush. They glanced away from each other, and Ruki carried on toward the school quickly. She thought he looked a little familiar.

When she arrived, she sat on a bench, at the end of the school grounds. She felt so annoyed, 'Mental note: don't sing out loud again - ever!' She sat there looking at the ground, waiting until the bell went.

"Hey, this seat taken?" Asked a girl with a sweet-sounding voice. Ruki looked up. A girl stood before her. She had short brown hair, a green knee-length dress, with a yellow t-shirt underneath and brown eyes. The weird thing with this girl was that she had a yellow dog sock puppet on her right hand, 'Jeez, what is wrong with the kids here... Can this school get any more annoying?' Ruki thought, bitterly. The girl smiled. This annoyed Ruki all the more. None of the kid's smiles here could always be genuine, hers certainly couldn't.

"Hi! You're...Ruki, right? I never really got to talk to you!" the girl sat down next to her and continued, "I'm Katou Juri, but you can call me Juri!"

Ruki paused, then "smiled" and said, "It's nice to meet you... Juri."

Juri giggled, "...So, where do you come from?" Ruki didn't want to reflect.

The bell rang. Saved by the bell. She stood up quickly, and mumbled, "See you later" and walked away fast.

Juri, although seemed a little taken aback, overcame it and called sweetly, "Ok! See you later!" and she waved.

When Ruki arrived, again, she sat next to the quiet, spacey girl. As she sat down, she heard a nervous voice. She turned. It was the boy from earlier,  
'_That's_ why he was familiar - he's in my class!' she thought.

He looked embarrassed, and said quietly, "Ah... um... Sorry about earlier!" Ruki shrugged. She wasn't going to show any more embarrassment. So she nodded, "It's okay"

The boy smiled, "Phew, I'm Matsuda Takato by the way, and you are... Ruki-san, right?"

Ruki nodded, "...Nice to meet you, Takato-san."

The boy looked at the floor, "Oh... um... your song was really pretty by the way" Ruki felt annoyed, but "smiled" anyway, and said nothing.

"Hey Juri-chan! Where've you been?" one girl asked, from behind Ruki. Takato started blushing deeply, and spun around.

There stood the girl from earlier, "Oh, no where in particular!" she replied cheerfully.

Her eyes met Takato's, and she smiled at him, "Hey, Takato-kun!"

A few of the girls giggled, as Takato, now blushing furiously, stammered, "M-morning Katou-san!"

Juri brought out her strange dog puppet, and said in a weird voice, whilst moving the puppet's mouth, "Wan wan! Why is Takato-kun red?"

Takato went crimson, and the girls giggled even more, "Um... uh... I..." but he was interrupted.

"Now now, settle down class." said the droning voice of Saki-sensei. Everyone got in their seats. Ruki glanced at Ryou's seat. It was empty. She wondered what had happened. Then she scolded herself again, 'I-DON'T-CARE!" she told herself angrily.

First lesson was maths. Ruki didn't think maths great, but she could grasp it to some extent. Saki-sensei wrote meaningless letters on the board, mixed them with numbers, and gave a long droning account on algebra.

Ruki almost fell asleep, until she heard him say, "Err, Ruki-kun? I would like you to come up here, and solve this problem on the board. It'll show me what you know on this subject." Ruki nodded her head. She stood up, and walked slowly to the front. She picked up the piece of chalk, and began to write down calculations. Algebra wasn't her forte when it came to maths, but she understood the concept well enough.

Once she got about halfway, the classroom door slid opened, "Sorry I'm late! Saki-sensei!" said a cheerful voice. Ruki turned. It was Ryou.

A lot of the girls gasped, "R-Ryou-sama!"

"We thought we'd have to spend the day without you!"

Ruki turned to look at him. He seemed... upset. 'I'm acting like I _know_ him! He's a stupid pretty boy! Ugh!' she thought, annoyed, yet again.

Saki-sensei frowned, "Hmm, okay, Ryou-kun, please take your seat. I will speak to you after class. We're doing algebra, and Ruki-kun here was just working out a problem for us."

"Ruuki eh?" he murmured. Ruki and Ryou's eyes met, and Ryou winked quickly, then took his seat. Ruki turned her head back to the board, making a silent vow to never meet his eyes again.

As she carried on writing, she mentally muttered words like, "Arrogant... stupid... pretty-boy..."

When she finished, she stood back, "Ah! Excellent work! Only, you were incorrect when you made the calculations... here... at the end. Nonetheless, we will make a fine mathematician out of you yet." Ruki felt embarrassed at this. She walked back to her seat quickly. As she did, she felt many eyes on her. Hadn't she suffered enough embarrassment for one day?

As she sat down, a boy with dark blue hair, brown trousers, and an orange coat, turned in his seat to her, and whispered, "Nice work." and smiled. Ruki didn't look at him.

As the bell signalling break came, everyone filed out. Ruki decided to stay. She brought out a small bento, and ate some leftovers from the previous night. She noticed the spacey girl, still sitting at her desk. Her long white-blonde hair was like a veil Ruki couldn't see past. She wore a black gothic lolita dress. Despite the "odd look", Ruki thought she might like this girl, if they were to get to know one another. It was like; this girl had suffered a lot, and closed herself off from everything. Ruki tried to close herself off as well but for some reason, she couldn't quite achieve it... Not entirely.

"Hi! Sorry if I startled you earlier, I'm Jenrya." Now startled, Ruki looked up then back at her desk again. It was the boy from earlier, dark blue hair. He had a very calm aura. One Ruki just didn't mix with. If someone _really_ got on her nerves, she would retaliate in some way! This boy gave a different impression, 'It's weakness...' was Ruki's thought now, 'But, hey, what's new at this place?'. Ruki didn't look at Jenrya, nor did she reply. She was getting a bit sick of this.

Jenrya, slightly taken aback decided to leave Ruki to eating, and turned to the girl named Alice, "Hey Alice! How are you? Haven't really spoken to you much lately..." Alice pushed her hair behind her ears, but said nothing. Although, Ruki noticed there was a sadness in her eyes which she mistook as annoyance. Ruki side-glanced at Jenrya. He looked hurt, but it didnt stop him, "Uhh...you wanna meet up sometime?" he asked self-conciously. This seemed to make Alice more upset. This seemed strange to Ruki. If Jenrya was upsetting Alice this much, why not tell him to go away? Jenrya, acting as if Ruki wasn't there, took the chair in front of Alice. He pulled up closer, "Alice-san..?" he asked calmly. Alice closed her eyes tight, tensing. Jenrya looked more hurt, but didn't say anything. The sight made Ruki feel a little ill.

She stood up, "Dammit Jenrya! She _doesn't_ want you hanging around?" 'She's like me...' said a voice in her head. Then, after grabbing her stuff, Ruki stormed out the class, leaving a stunned look on Jenrya's face, and the shadow of an emotion on Alice's. Something that represented anger.

Ruki walked through the school grounds, her hands in her pockets. She stared at the ground, not caring who she walked into. She passed several smiling faces like those three, Takeru, Hikari and Daisuke who called out to her, but she ignored them. *Plip* A drop of water landed on Ruki's shoulder. It was beginning to rain. She didn't care though. She'd walked through the streets at night plenty whilst it rained. It suited her mood. It always suited her mood. She noticed the bench she sat on earlier and headed over to it.

As she walked, she felt a hand tap her on the shoulder. She didn't turn round, just kept walking. Whoever it was grabbed her by her arm and stopped her."H-hey! Get the hell off-!" She turned around to see who had grabbed her. She groaned, "You again Pre-!" Ryou interrupted her, his face looked stern. Ruki was surprised to see him like that.

"Why did you say that?" He asked, his voice equally as stern as his face.

"What?" Ruki returned that sternness.

"_Why_ did you say that to Jenrya?" He kept his voice low.

Ruki looked away, "Because... she looked so upset... he was upsetting her, and it was getting on my ner-"  
"Getting on your nerves...? What would you know?" Ruki realised Ryou was still clutching her arm.

She wrenched it away from him and looked at the ground, "What the-? ...Because once you've been hurt so badly, no one can help." She turned to Ryou, and said angrily, "But _you_ wouldn't understand, _Pretty Boy!_"

She was about to stalk past him, when Ryou put a hand on her shoulder, "...And you do...?" he said, his voice sounded completely different, not that flirtacious voice, but a quiet voice, shaking with emotion. He turned around and half-whispered, "You know what it's like to be part of an _experiment?_" Ruki's eyes widened. She turned back to him. His normally "smiling" face, was replaced with one of pain. Maybe this was closer to the real him...?

Ruki shook her head, "T-That's stupid... dumb... not true..."

Ryou shook his head, "Which is why no one knows. Who the hell would believe us? 2 years ago, Jenrya and I were wondering around the outskirts of the city. We passed by Alice-san's house. Alice-san back then, was a... kinda outgoing girl. I suggested we looked through the window..." And Ryou told Ruki the story of how Alice became so... different:

"Hey, Jenrya! Lookiiiiie! It's _Alice_-san's house!"

Jenrya turned around, looking embarrassed, "A-Alice-san?"

Ryou grinned, "Yep! Let's look through the window!"

"N-no way! That's creepy!" but Ryou was already at the window, "H-hey!" Jenrya whispered hoarsely. He looked through the window, next to Ryou. The house was the size of a mansion, and a lot of kids suspected that Alice was a rich kid. (No one ever went round to her house, since rumours of her father being a mad scientist were pretty off-putting). The sight that met Jenrya and Ryou's eyes were not what they expected. Surely something like Alice sitting at a long table, dining or something, but never _this_. Alice was floating unconscious, in a wide, long, experimental tube. The substance she was floating in was a sickly green colour. Talk about cliche. Alice's eyes opened slightly, "F-father! Please! Not me! D-don't!" and then the substance began to glow; Alice's figure lost, and all that could be heard was a high-pitched scream.

Normally, whenever Ruki heard "sad" stories from other people, she would walk away in annoyance, 'Who cares?' she'd think. In this case as well, she was tempted – it sounded so ridiculous. But Ryou seemed too serious. She couldn't dismiss it. She took a step back, and whispered, "Th-that's terrible! Why hasn't anyone done anything about him?"

"Because no one knows!"

"Why not _tell_ someone then?"

"Because...he has an upper hand on us, he's a big-shot scientist for the government - No one would believe us!" Then, Ryou smiled very slightly, irony present. "Nice to know there's human emotion in there somewhere."

Ruki was narrowed her eyes at this.

"But _now_ do you understand why Jenrya tries so hard?" Ruki felt angry, 'He's treating me like a kid!' But then another thought struck her, "But that _still_ doesn't explain the... annoyance in Alice-san's eyes!"

Ryo calmed down a little bit, "Heh, that wouldn't be annoyance. We think the experiment put some sort of... emotional inhibiter into her. She can't express emotion anymore."

"That bastard..." was Ruki's quiet reply. She looked at the ground, "...Why tell me? Of course I'm going to be a little sceptical. Why think I'll believe you?"

Ryou didn't reply for a moment, then asked, "...I may feel annoyed at you, Ruki, but I certainly trust you. I have to-" He stopped himself.

""You have to"? What kind of response is that? What do you-" It was her turn to stop herself. "...Look, I just don't care, okay?" She walked away from Ryou, never meeting his eyes.

"Ah-! Ruki!" But she carried on walking, "Ruki... You..." Then he looked down at himself, "Hey, it's raining! And I'm drenched!" and he took shelter in the building close by.

The day carried on. Ruki deliberately moved to another seat, she didn't want to face Alice and Jenrya. She felt so annoyed, with both of them, and herself. When the bell rang, Ruki was the first to leave. The sooner her mum moved from here, the better.

As she walked back, she heard a familiar, annoying, flirtatious voice call, "Ruuuki!" he was acting flirty and silly again, as if earlier never happened. This grated on Ruki's nerves. When he caught up with her, he said cheerfully, "Hey, I apologised to Jenrya for you!"

Ruki stiffened. She turned to him, and voiced her angry thoughts, "What gives you the right to _apologise_ for _me_!"

Ryou took a step back, "I'm sorry Ruki, it's just that, I could tell that you wanted to apologise, but you couldn't! Matter of pride and the like, yeah?" Ruki paused, and they started off home. '...Maybe...no, he's wrong! ...No...I don't know...but!'

"...Whether or not that's true." She said, surprisingly calmly, "It doesn't give you the right to apologise for me. It is _my_ decision. Understood?" Ryou blinked, and then really understood. Maybe he had crossed a line. If anything, he was apologising out of annoyance that Ruki yelled at Jenrya. He was defending his friend Jenrya, really. They were both out of line.

"And another thing, since when were we close? I don't recall saying you could call me "Ruki"!" This brought Ryou back from his thoughts.

He chuckled, put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Oh, we're close! In fact, we're so alike that it's scary!"

Ruki shoved his hand off her shoulder, "Uhh, _no_ we are _not_! You're an idiot pretty boy and I'm...well, I'm..." she trailed off.

Ryou chuckled again, much to Ruki's annoyance, "No, I wasn't referring to who we pretend to be." Ruki gave him a strange look. He continued, "I think you were a little different back then. Maybe."

"_What_ are you talking about?"

Hurt flashed in Ryou's eyes, but he quickly replaced it with a fake grin, "Haha! You really don't remember, huh? Well, that's ok! Maybe you will someday!"

Really, Pretty-boy, _what_ are you- hey!"

Ryou was already running in the direction of his house, "I'll see you tomorrow, Ruuki!"

Ruki turned toward her house, "He's so strange." she muttered aloud, 'But I can see a lot of other things in him...' whispered yet another voice in her head. She shook her head and began walking home.

As she got through the door, she saw her mum was waiting for her in the kitchen doorway.

"Mom, I'm really not in the mood." Ruki said, about to go upstairs, when her mum caught her arm.

"Look, I just want to say that-!"

"I don't wanna hear-"

_"We're staying!"_ Ruki's eyes widened,

"W-what...?"

"Okay... _Maybe_ not for good, but it's most likely!" Ruki down the hall, into her room and slid the door shut as hard as she could. 'I've got put up with these _idiots_ for the rest of my school years!'

~REVISED: I hope that's better. I'm trying to tackle OOC-ness alongside character developement and so on. It's annoying ._. I'll try to revise the next one soon, seeing as the sooner I revise all these the sooner I can write the new chapter~


	4. The third day

~REVISED: Notes at the end, enjoy~~

[OLD NOTE]: OK, it's me again! I'm just going to say something I forgot to mention in the intro: I may do short bits from Ryou's perspective, and possibly others. But there won't be a lot.

Ruki stepped out the door. It was 8:00am and she was very tired. She'd barely gotten any sleep. As she walked to school, she thought about what she'd been told. She couldn't believe it. Here. For the next 4 years. Putting up with these annoying...! Not to mention-

"Hey! Ruuki! Your looking more down then ever! What's up?" said that annoying voice, which had interrupted her thoughts, from behind her. She groaned and turned to see Ryou walking behind her.

She stopped, and so did he. '_And_ I'll see him _every_ day!' she thought with annoyance. Again. "None of your business."

"Oooh! Doesn't look like anything too bad, you're acting just as annoyed as yesterday. And the day before. _And_ the day before that."

Ruki humphed, "Why not say "like normal"?" 'Everyone does' she added silently.

Ryou paused, then said quietly, "Well... I guess it's not nice to assume things about people! Maybe you do have a nice side!"

Ruki stiffened a little, then poked his cheek, "Yeah, right. You act like your words are deep and... _piercing_ but I gotta break it to you, they're not."

Ryou grinned a little, "Hehe! You know they are! My words will haunt you forever, for I am the evil prince who weaves a web of mysterious, piercing words~" he said mock-slyly.

Ruki raised an eyebrow, "...You're so... I don't even know how to describe it. Strange is probably the best thing I can think of." she said.

"Hime-sama~! Thank you! As an evil prince, I shall take that as a compliment!" He said, mock-delightedly.

"...Okay, you're not strange, you're beyond disturbing."

"Why Hime-sama! Such kind words!"

"Yeah... We've arrived at school, oh evil prince." Ruki informed him, sarcasm ever-present.

As they entered the school grounds, a few girls ran to Ryou, "R-Ryou-sama!"

"We missed you!"

"Take it easy girls, I'm here now, yeah?" The girls squealed at this. Then they noticed Ruki, who was standing next to Ryou, looking sickened.

They threw Ruki dirty looks, "What business do you have with _our_ Ryou-sama?" demanded one of them. Ryou looked embarrassed, and turned to Ruki with an apologetic look and mouthed, 'Sorry!' at her.

He forced a smile and ushered the girls away, "C'mon girls! Where are we gonna hang out today?"

"Wherever you want Ryou-sama!" could be heard from the small gaggle of girls. Ruki rolled her eyes, 'What a bunch of morons! And that stupid pretty boy is such a..' she wasn't sure how to finish that, so instead, she leaned against the school gate, put one foot against it, and looked at the ground. The bell was taking _ages_. Then again she had left earlier than usual. The longer she stood there, the more bored she got. She had the strange sense that someone was watching her. She looked up. On the opposite side of the gate stood a boy. He looked slightly younger than her, he wore a dark blue jacket, which was open, a pale yellow top, grey short trousers and blue, white trousers and was wearing a bandanna which had strands of his very dark blue hair showing. But the thing Ruki identified most with were his eyes. They looked so... Whatever it was, they were boring into her own. Ruki felt embarrassed, but at the same time, intrigued. Then the boy looked away, looking bored. Ruki felt a little indignant.

She threw him an annoyed look, "What's your problem?" she muttered aloud. The boy looked startled, then glared back. Ruki felt even more indignant, and walked away. As she walked, she felt another pair of eyes staring at her. This contributed even more to her bad mood. She almost wanted to yell. Or disappear. She didn't care which, one of them was gonna happen. Though in the end, neither did, because she saw a gate at the end of the grounds. Intrigued, she opened it and walked down a path. Eventually, she reached some strange little mini-house things, like play houses, in all kinds of shapes. There were also little entrances too. Ruki hadn't seen anything like these, and found it really weird. Then she heard voices coming from one of them.

She crept behind it and heard a loud annoying voice, with a very pompous air, a timid voice, and the same voice as that boy, Takato, "Alright! You guys suck! I'm the Digimon King here! You guys don't even have the right to be the queen!"

"The Digimon Queen? Now you mention it, she hasn't been seen in a tournament for years, wonder what happened to her?"

"Oh yeah! Ryou kicked her butt though!"

"You mean that tournament you guys invited me to? Aww, wish I coulda gone.."  
Ruki's eyes widened at all this. She better not hang around. Else, if those guys saw her, they'd recognise her, and she didn't wanna be recognised. As the Digimon Queen. She didn't care about that stuff anymore. Her heart felt heavy at this. She quickly entered another mini-house-thing, away from those guys. She sat down, hugged her chest to her knees. Then she thought, 'Hold on. _Me_ defeated by _Ryou_? The pretty-boy? I've never even _met_ him let alone had a match...',

"This is weird..." she murmured aloud. Then, Ruki heard a small squeak. She looked up. Sitting opposite of her was a girl. She was hugging her knees to her chest too. She wore a pink hat which covered the most of her blonde hair, except the thick strands that hung down. She was wearing a pink t-shirt-jacket, a blue and white striped t-shirt, a pink knee-length skirt, long blue socks, and pink and white trainers. Her turqouise eyes were looking straight into Ruki's. It looked as if she'd been crying. 'What is _with_ this school?'

The girl turned her head away for a few seconds, rubbed her eyes, then turned back, and forced a smile. "S-Sorry..." she said shakily.

Ruki blinked, what did she care? "...Hmph, you don't have to cover up like that. I don't care. In fact, I'm leaving, this school has too many weirdoes." And with that, Ruki climbed out and stalked off.

"W-wait!" called the girl. Ruki didn't bother, "H-Hey... Wait!" called the girl again. Resentfully, Ruki turned. The girl was only a metre away from Ruki, "Heh... You're right." she said simply, her eyes looking a little watery.

Ruki felt startled at this, but before she managed to say anything, she heard a voice shout, "Oi! Leave Izumi-chan alone!" A boy appeared from behind Ruki and grabbed her arm.

"Hey...!" Ruki tried to tug her arm out of his grip.

"Takuya-kun! Stop!" The girl, now known as Izumi, shouted at Takuya, her eyes narrowed, hands on her hips, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"But..! She was making you cry!" The boy called Takuya said.

"Let go!" Ruki snapped and wrenched her arm from the boy's grasp.

"H-Hey! Ruki!" A voice called. It was Ryou. He'd obviously ditched the fangirls or something as he was making his way over to Ruki, Takuya and Izumi, fast.

"Takuya! She hasn't done anything! Honestly, what are you boys like? You jump to conclusions and its _really_ annoying!" Izumi went on, clearly very annoyed. Takuya looked embarrassed. Ruki took one step forward forward and spun round to face him.

The boy from earlier, the one with a blue jacket, and seemed like a lone wolf, had shown up now, "She didn't hurt Izumi. I... I saw what happened and-" he told Takuya calmly.

Takuya sighed, "Oh, is that right...? Eh, sorry, I guess." He said, looking sheepishly at Ruki. Ruki only gave him a cold stare and he looked a bit intimidated at this.

He turned to Kouji, and pushed him back a bit, "Look Kouji! Just 'cuz you're the popular type, doesn't mean you can stalk Izumi-chan-!"

"I wasn't stalking Izumi-chan!" he argued, going red, "I was... I was... "He trailed off, and glanced at Ruki for a second.

Takuya, being quick for once in his life, noticed this, and looked at Ruki himself, "Ohh! I get it! So much for the rumour! You obviously like _this_ girl and _not_ Izumi-chan!" he said, teasing Kouji.

"O-Oi! That's not...!" Kouji's voice sounded heated. He glared at Takuya.

Izumi sighed, "Okay, you two, that's quite enough. Quit it!" She sounded so... confident. She'd certainly recovered very fast from earlier.

Kouji took a step back, "The rumour's are false, and so are you." He said quietly, "I don't like anyone." and with that, he turned, his slightly reddened face could be seen for a brief moment, and he stalked off.

"Ruki! Are you okay?" Ryou was beside Ruki now, sounding worried. Why should he be? It really got to her; it wasn't like he was her friend or anything.

"Pretty Boy... Why don't you go back to your stupid fangirls?"

"I'll take that as a yes then!" he said, teasingly.

Ruki pouted, "Go away, are you stalking me or something? I mean, what _are_ you doing here?" she asked heatedly, her voice continuing to rise in volume,

"Whoa! Sorry! I saw you walk over here and wanted to hang out, that's all..." He waved his hands. Ruki looked away, feeling a little embarrassed. What was she doing? She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned.

It was Izumi, "S-Sorry about that! I don't get those two..." Izumi shook her head, a sad expression on her face. Ruki glared at Ryou.

Ryou got the message, "Ok, I'll go... but you could just ask! I don't mind... "He turned and walked away.

In the distance, a few squeals of "Ryou-sama!" "Where did you go?" could be heard.

Izumi sniffed, "I guess it must be nice to have a boyfriend like that, huh? I wouldn't mind having... a friend, boyfriend, whatever! Just someone or some people who..." she trailed off.

Ruki snorted, "Me and _Pretty Boy_? Not likely... and people who...?"

"Well... Agh, it's stupid. I guess I've never felt like I can be myself around anyone... Not sure why I'm telling you all of a sudden though." She laughed a little. "Eheh, sorry." Ruki sort of grasped what she meant. Sort of. "I mean, I guess I used to get bullied a lot. So I'm determined to change myself. Even if it's to someone I don't like..." she stopped, looking embarrassed at what she'd said.

Ruki shrugged, why was this weird girl talking to her? "Well... If that's what you're gonna do then just do it, it's up to you. At least it seems some people like you, even if you're not being yourself, you're still getting what you want; people to like you, right?" was Ruki's slightly annoyed reply. The bell rang, _'Finally.'_ Ruki thought. She turned, and left Izumi with a thoughtful look on her face.

Izumi laughed to herself, "Wow, she kinda missed the point, huh? Well, she still seems kinda cool, I guess."

The first two lessons went pretty fast (except a bit of a spat between Miyako and a few other girls from Ruki's class, which resulted in Miyako and the other girls being sent out) and it was break. Ruki left the classroom quickly, as she didn't want to hang around Alice and Jenrya. She hung out at the place she'd found earlier instead. Break passed pretty quickly, and the next 2 lessons. Ruki was becoming increasingly bored.

As she walked past the computer room, she heard a familiar voice call out, "Hey! Makino-san!" Ruki turned to look into the computer room. It was Miyako, sitting on a table next to Ken, and Koushirou sitting opposite of them. Ruki reluctantly walked in. She sat down and took out her bento box that she'd packed that morning. She might as well eat, she was hungry after all, and it looks like that she was in for another long, boring natter with this lot.

At first, they were talking about work and Ruki felt herself getting sleepy, but then, Miyako mentioned the spat she'd had that morning, and Ruki felt her interest grow a little, "...so, they come up to me and say "_You're_ not allowed to see _our_ Ken again!" and crap like that! I mean, come on, you don't belong to anyone, Ken-kun!"

Ken went a little red, "Sorry for the trouble, Miyako-san.."

Miyako started blushing, "N-no! Its fine! They're the ones doing it! Not you!" Ken nodded, still a bit red.

Koushiro noticed this and began laughing, "Oh you two! You seem all-"

"What!" Miyako interrupted indignantly "If you're implying what I think you're implying, then you're wrong! Jeez!" she sounded like she was in denial, "...T-There's nothing between me and Ken-kun, it's just a rumour..." then she fired up a bit, "B-besides! You can't talk! What was all that with Mimi-chan the other day? "Oh, M-Mimi-chan! Um... C-can we me-meet up this S-Saturday?"" she mimicked.

Koushiro went red at this, "W-what are you talking about? I didn't mean it like _that_ I just meant it as-!"

A sweet-sounding voice interrupted him, "Oh and Jou-sempai! Where _is_ it we're going?"

"Oh... U-uh! I-it's a surprise! I'll see you then, Mimi-kun!" and Jou strolled past the open computer room door, looking like someone who'd just won the lottery.

When the sound of his footsteps faded, Miyako giggled a little, "Awww! Poor Koushiro-sempai! Mimi-chan's got a date!" Koushiro looked a little stricken. Miyako's glee faded, and was replaced with pity, "OK! I'll ask Mimi-chan what's going on, and, as much as it pains me to betray my soul sister, I will tell you what she said!"

Koushiro's face lit up, "Y-you mean it? Thanks Miyako-! I-I mean... T-That's good and all but why do I need to know...?" he said, starting out sounding relieved, and then trying to cover up his relief.

Miyako giggled, "Oh, Koushiro-sempai! What _are_ we going to do with you? Makino-san? Help me convince this guy..!" The earlier argument seemed to have been forgotten.

Ruki looked away, surprised, then said quietly, "I... don't really do crushes and romance... it's annoying." The room fell into a bit of an awkward silence.

Miyako walked up to her, and patted her on the shoulder, "Aw c'mon! You've had a crush, right?" Ruki felt patronised, "No! Is there a problem?" she snapped.

Miyako looked very taken aback. She then narrowed her eyes, "Well sorry if being normal is so bad!"

The bell rang, and Ruki left quickly.

"...Maybe she's kinda lucky though..." Miyako said inaudibly, glancing toward Ken.

The end of the day finally came. Ruki rushed out onto the grounds, but not without bumping into a boy, "O-Ow!" he said, rubbing his arm,

"Sorry." Ruki murmured, and then noticed who it was. She turned, "You're Kouji from earlier aren't you?" she couldn't help ask.

The boy shook his head, "Yeah, we look alike don't we? My names Kimura Koichi! And you are...?" Ruki couldn't believe this. Then she noticed he wasn't wearing a bandana thing. Instead, his very dark blue hair was loose, down to a little above his neck. He wore a thin red jumper, with a green t-shirt jacket, that went over the top, white trousers, and white and black trainers. They had to be twins, in that case.

"Oh, I'm Makino Ruki, and I guess Kouji is your twin...?"

"Makino-san eh? Nice to meet you! And no, everyone thinks we are, but we've never met until we came to this school!" He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. Ruki wasn't sure if she believed him, but then remembered she had to be getting back.

She turned away, "See ya." and walked off, leaving a confused Koichi behind.

As she began walking, she heard that oh-so annoying voice, "Hey Ruuki!" She groaned, and turned. Ryou ran over to her.

"I thought you would've gone home!" she said, exasperatedly.

Ryou smiled a bit sadly and murmured something that sounded like, "I don't really have a home anymore... Heh."

"What did you say?" Ruki asked sharply.

"Nothing, nothing! So, what happened earlier today? Y'know, with Izumi-chan and stuff?" he asked, as they began to walk back.

"None of your business." Ruki said simply.

"Sure thing, Ruuki!"

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"Sure thing, Hime!"

"Oh for...!"

Ryou laughed.

When they parted ways, and Ryou was completely out of sight, Ruki reflected on things a little and came to the conclusion that she was stuck in a shoujo manga. A very angsty one. And she felt annoyed at that. Was it impossible for them to angst anywhere aside from in front of her?

When she got home, her mum greeted her, "Ruki-chan! Sweety! You're a little late! Anyway, I've got a photo shoot appointment tomorrow! So I won't be able to make dinner... unless! You come home early, and we can go together! I'll buy you an outfit to go and-!" -**SLAM-** went Ruki's bedroom door. She'd already gone upstairs seeing as she wasn't interested in hearing that crap.

~So yes; revised: corrected a load of grammar errors and the odd spelling mistake. I've also changed quite a bit of this chapter in terms of dialogue to make it less... OOC. Izumi wouldn't cry _that_ much -shudders- Hope readers from ages ago still like it, and new readers... well, enjoy. xD~


	5. The fourth day

~REVISED: Notes at the end~

Ruki woke up at 5am and couldnt back to sleep. She lay there 'till six, thinking about everything. She got up, had a shower, got changed into her broken heart t-shirt and black jeans. She chucked her other blue jeans, that were strewn on the floor, into the wash basket. Even though it was spring, it was raining. Ruki looked at her calender, 'March 21st? Jeez..' Ruki hadn't been paying attention too much lately, especially to time. It was only a 10 days till her birthday. Her mum was nearly always gone then, and Ruki wouldnt be surprised if she was this year too. She made breakfast, ate quickly, packed her lunch (Leftover Yakisoba today) and left. The further away from her mother, the better, 'But the further away from mom I get, the closer I'll be to Pretty-boy...'

"Only _physically_ though. _Not_ emotionally... Or something weird." she muttered aloud,

"Hey, Ruuki! Who're you talking to?"

Ruki went a little red, "N-no one!" She turned to Ryou, 'Am I really gonna have to put up with this _every day_?' she thought with annoyance. "Are you stalking me or something?"

Ryou grinned, "Why yes Hime! Remember? I am the "evil prince" or something!"

"Ugh, whatever. Will you just quit bugging me?" Ruki was getting annoyed with him all the more.

A flash of hurt entered Ryou's eyes, but he shook his head, "Eh... Fine, I'll leave ya alone. Sorry." and with that, he crossed the road and walked on the other side.

Ruki looked at the ground, '...What the hell is his problem? I don't care that I mighta upset him. I don't care about his feelings. I don't care about him at a-' she turned around and sighed loudly, _"Fine!_ Get back over here! And walk behind me! I don't know why you're so determined to be so weird..."

"Aw, Ruuki, that's so sweet!" Ryou called across the street, and then crossed it back toward her. Ruki couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. '...Maybe there's just something seriously wrong with him...'

"Hm, I guess you think there's something seriously wrong with me at this point? Haha." He said, somehow looking cheerful about that notion.

Ruki looked surprised. She stopped, turned to him and asked, "...How did you do that?"

"Do what?" asked Ryou, genuinely puzzled.

She turned and carried on walking, "Never mind. If I tell ya, you'll use it as an excuse to talk to me some more." she muttered.

"Uh... Okay then? I apologise, Hime?" he said, looking puzzled. He still managed to laugh a little though.

They arrived at the school, "So, where're your obssessed stalkers?" Ruki asked casually. What'd be the point in sarcasm? It's what those girls actually were.

"They'll be coming any minute now..."

Ruki felt a little puzzled. She looked at Ryou, who had his hands clasped behind his head, "You make it sound like you dont _want_ their company."

Ryo paused and looked across the grounds for a short time, then said quietly, "...Maybe I prefer your company." Ruki's eyes widened; what did he mean by that? He lowered his arms and looked at her, a stupid grin on his face, "You like me yet?"

Ruki took a step back, feeling a little ill. "W-What the-? No! And I never will! Stupid, arrogant _Pretty Boy_!" she turned away from him and stormed off.

Ryou scratched the back of his head, "Was it something I said?"

Ruki stormed across the playground, toward a bench on the other side of the grounds, 'He is such a..! Agh! I hate him! All he can do is be stupid, grin a lot, be all popular and I also hate how he-!' she stopped herself, '...If I continue that sentence, I will sound like on of those "love-struck-yet-indenial-heroines" from a shoujo manga. And I don't want to sound like one of those.' She knew of shoujo manga because her mum was always trying to get her into them. Ruki only ever watched and read the Digimon manga and anime. And became a professional at the card game, hence the title "The Digimon Queen".

Just as she reached the bench, someone linked arms with her and a sweet girly voice said, "Hi, Ruki-san! I haven't talked to you for awhile! How are you?"

Ruki looked round. It was Juri. "Oh, hi Juri-san. Er... I'm fine." she replied, feeling a little awkward. No one had ever linked arms with her before.

Juri walked forward, and pulled Ruki forward as well, "Shall we go for a walk?" she asked.

Ruki, who didn't want to particulary, thought it'd better than to be stuck with her thoughts. As they walked around, Juri asked Ruki many annoying questions, that she'd rather not bother with, but nontheless, she answered them, if a little reluctantly. Despite Juri seeming like the spacey type, she seemed to realise Ruki's reluctance, and stopped asking her about her past and such.  
Instead, she held up her strange fox/dog puppet, and said, "Wan wan! Where would you like to go?"

Ruki was starting to find it a little amusing, "I don't car- I mean, I don't mind!"

Juri led her toward a small secluded place wood-y-type place at the end of the fields in the grounds. "Me and my friends hang out here sometimes, and since I'd say you're one of my friends, you can hang out here too!" she said, smiling all the while. Ruki felt embarrased, 'Friends... No, I do _not_ have time for all this mushy-friendship-y-type stuff!'

When they got there, instead of there being no one there, there was a chubby kid wearing a blue and yellow suit-thing. He had brown hair and brown eyes. He was leaning against the fence, holding a bar of chocolate, talking with two other guys, and a little kid, who looked like he was from 2nd grade. This kid wore a white t-shirt, yellow 3/4 trousers, green and white trainers, had green eyes and had only a little brown hair showing, due to his large, strange orange hat. 'OK, it's official, this is the dorkiest school I have ever been to.' Ruki thought.

The kid noticed Ruki and Juri, and tugged on the chubby guys blue and yellow suit-thing, "Um... Junpei-senpai..."

"It's Junpei-SAMA to you, and whaddya want?"

"Um... Junpei-sama, look... " and he pointed to Juri and Ruki.

The boy named Junpei looked up, "Well well, if it isn't Juri-chan! And... " he peered at Ruki, "Hey! You're the new cutie! Ruki-san was it?" he winked, and his friends snickered.

"Good luck Junpei! Do you really think you'd ever go out with _her_? And anyway, I thought you liked Izumi-san?"

"I have many conquests.." said Junpei, mock-slyly.

Ruki was getting really irritated, until then one of the boys exclaimed, "HEY! Y-Y-You're the Digimon Queen!" and he pointed his finger at Ruki. They all looked at Ruki.

Ruki looked away, "What're you talking about you dorks?" she said, stubbornly,

"A-Are you sure?" said the quiet voice of the little kid.

"Hey, are you still here? I thought we told you to get lost, kid!" said one of Junpei's friends, exasperatedly. The kid looked up to Junpei, pleadingly.

Junpei sighed, "Look Tomoki-kun, its true, we _did_ tell you to get lost, so, get lost!"

The boy named Tomoki looked at the floor, and drew a shaky breath, obviously about to cry, "O-okay.." and he slowly walked past Juri and Ruki.

Juri looked to Junpei, anger in her eyes, "Junpei-san! How can you be so... so _mean_?" and she turned on her heel, dragging Ruki with her, and walked quickly over to Tomoki. Tomoki turned and looked up at Juri, his eyes wide. She giggled and whispered to Ruki, "Isn't he cute?" Ruki shrugged. Juri crouched down, "Tomoki-kun, was it? Hi! I'm Juri!" Tomoki looked a little bewildered. Like, 'Why did anyone care about him?' Ruki almost pitied him. Almost.

"Y-yeah... uh, hi."

Juri giggled again. The bell rang. "Oh, looks like I have to go now, but if you're not busy would you like to hang out with me and some friends at lunch?"

Tomoki's eyes sparkled, "Y-yeah! If that's ok with you... "

Juri smiled, "Of course!"

Tomoki looked as if he'd won the lottery, when a voice asked, "Hey, Tomoki-kun! Finally hitting off with the girls I see!" Ruki looked around. It was Takuya, the boy, who had grabbed her arm the other day, and generally been annoying. Like everyone else. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Ta-Takuya-niisan! No! I wasn't! They're my... " Tomoki looked at the floor, embarassed, "..friends!"  
Takuya made a thumbs up and grinned, "Good for you! But you're still gonna have that soccer match with me later?"

"Mm-hmm!"

Ruki turned, about to walk away, when she heard Takuya's voice call out, "U-Um... Hey! Ruki-senpai! Sorry about yesterday... uh... "

Ruki shrugged her shoulders and carried on walking.

"Wait!" Juri called. Ruki didn't want to stop, yet she did. As much as the girl annoyed her, Ruki seemed to like Juri. But she wasn't gonna admit it, 'I don't wanna make enemies or friends, it's all a waste of my time.' Ruki turned back to them and waited.

Juri stood up, "Look after Tomoki-chan for me, 'kay, Takuya-kun?" And she smiled. Both Takuya and Tomoki blushed a little. Ruki rolled her eyes, 'Oh brother!' Juri then linked arms with Ruki (Much to Ruki's annoyance) and they began walking toward class. When they got there, Takato was waiting outside the class.

When he saw Juri, he eagerly walked over, "H-Hey Katou-san! How are you?"

Juri smiled, "I'm ok! We're late, aren't we?" Ruki felt annoyed. It was Juri's fault, Ruki had nothing to do with the lateness,

"Yep. Saki-sensei is not in a good mood. Me and Jenrya-kun were talking and he immediately sent _me_ out!" Juri laughed, and Takato blushed.

"Oh, and Takato-kun, I need to speak to you later!"

Takato's eyes widened, the blush spreading, "Uh... sure... "

Ruki took this chance to unhook arms, and quickly walk inside. As soon as she did, she felt many eyes on her. She didn't stare back, only looked at the floor. She didn't need this.

Saki-sensei looked up, as Juri entered behind Ruki, "Ah! Why are you so late, hm? Got a good reason? None I bet! Now, Juri-kun stand outside with Takato-kun!"  
As he said this, Jenrya, who had been standing against the wall, stepped forward, "Please Saki-sensei, I was the one who started the conversation, I should be the one to get the deten-!"

"Quiet! I'll deal with both of you later!" Saki-sensei snapped. Juri winced, Ruki ignored her.

Saki-sensei looked at them both, "Ruki-kun, stand there next to Jenrya, and Juri-kun! Go outside!" Juri whirled around, embarrased, and quickly walked out, but not without whispering "Sorry" to Ruki.

Ruki walked over and stood by the wall next to Jenrya, 'Oh great, now he's gonna mention what happened. Well, he'd better get over it, 'cos Im not gonna apologise for it - _ever_!'

When the class began working, and there was a normal level of noise, and Saki-sensei had left the room, Jenrya turned to Ruki, "Look, about the other day...I-It's okay, I kinda understand... I-I guess." Ruki looked away. She didnt need to be forgiven. Jenrya chuckled, "Well, Ryou-san seems to know you, so the apology he said to me from you is accepted." Ruki's blood boiled at this, 'Pretty-boy had no right!' she thought angrily. She turned her back to Jenrya.

"Have you upset Hime?" a voice asked, amused. Ruki spun round. It was Ryou. No surprises there.  
Ruki rolled her eyes as Jenrya asked, ""Hime?""

Ruki hissed, "Cut the crap!" to Ryou.

Ryou chuckled, "Okay okay, Ruuki."

"Not this again! Can't you leave me alone?"

"Sorry, Ruuki. But ya know, "evil prince" and all."

"And not this again either!" snapped Ruki.  
Jenrya watched them, then asked a little awkwardly. "Um... are you two...? "

Although Ryou's reaction was slower then Ruki's, they both turned to him and managed to say, "NO!" simultaneously (Ruki's snap was more noticable than Ryou's casual tone.)

Jenrya laughed, "Sure... " he glanced at Alice, seeming a little down.

Ryou put his hand on Jenrya's shoulder, "Come on... I'm sure she'll come back!"

"But... when...?" Jenrya sighed a little, then he noticed Ruki, "Ah! Um... "

Ryou shook his head, "Its ok, I told her and-"

"You told her!" Jenrya asked, startled,

"I was about to say; Ruki isnt gonna tell anyone." He looked to her, "Right, Ruki?"

Ruki looked away, "Yeah, whatever!"

Ryou looked back to Jenrya, and grinned, "See? Her lips are sealed!" Ruki's initial impression of Jenrya had been wiped. He could act like the best defence was a good offence. He was just far more a pacifist.

Break passed and Ruki spent it with Miyako and Ken in the computer room. Koushiro was apparently with Mimi. It was pretty relaxed, which surprised Ruki. The next two lessons went past, and the computer room was closed. Ruki went for a walk near the place with the strange mini-houses.

As she did she heard a sweet voice call, "Ruki-san!" Ruki turned, 'Oh no.' she thought. It was Juri. When she caught up with Ruki, she bent down to catch her breath a little, then stood up straight, she looked a little pink, "Ruki-san! I'm so happy~! You know Takato-kun? Well... " And she launched into what happened earlier, outside the class.

Juri walked outside, and leant against the wall, opposite to Takato. Takato looked up and asked quietly, "Um... so... what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Juri looked at him, "Uh... oh! Y'know that time you skipped school, and I promised I wouldn't tell your parents?"

"Y-yeah...?"

"Well... I said you owed me one!"

"U-uh-huh...?"

"Sooo... I want you to take me out this weekend! Like on a picnic! Or something... "

Takato blushed deeply, "Y-you mean like a d... A d..."

"A date?"

"Y-Yeah."

Juri smiled, "I guess! Yeah!"

Takato's face went completely red. Then his curiousity took over, "Why now? I mean, that was a month ago... " Juri must've looked a little upset at that point because Takato reacted, "I-It's fine! Don't worry! And I'm not busy, so sure!"

Juri smiled, "Hm-hm! Great!" Then Saki-sensei came out, and told them off. When the bell went, he told them that they narrowly missed detention, and that Takato must not talk in class, and Juri musn't be late. Then he let them go.

As Juri beagn to leave, she turned to Takato, "Oh, and Takato-kun! You're supplying the food~!" She held up her puppet, "Wan wan! Dont forget now!" and she left.

Takato stood there and stared for awhile, completely dumbfounded. _He_ was taking _Katou-san_ on a date. Yes, _him_, _Takato Matsuda_! 'No wait, that doesn't sound right. This must be some sorta cruel dream..' he pinched his arm. It hurt. He looked around, then came to the conclusion that if this really was a dream he'd better make the most of it.

"So, yeah!" Juri continued.  
Ruki couldn't have cared less. Well, she thought she couldn't. "Uh-huh" she said. Juri looked a little hurt. "See you later Juri-san." Ruki turned and walked away. She didn't need this, friends or whatever. It was like carrying dead weight. Ruki carried on walking, when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Ruki looked round. It was Kouji.

"What do _you_ want?" Ruki asked annoyed.

Kouji looked annoyed, "I was gonna ask something but... never mind."

Ruki felt confused, "What...?"

Kouji shook his head, "Never mind, it doesn't matter and I don't care." he turned and walked away. It was the weirdest encounter of the day for Ruki. 'Am I counting how many weird encounters I have each day or something?'

The last lesson passed, and the day ended. Ruki found a different route home and began walking, so she could avoid Ryou. As she was walking, she noticed a rustled looking patch in some bushes. It wouldn't normally have bothered her, but for some reason she felt she had to check it. She pulled at them, the roughness of the strange leaves hurt, but nonetheless, she manged to push them apart. She stepped through, and ended up in the most "other-worldly" and sacred-looking place she'd ever been to. It was a small patch of woodland, with a small pond, and had sakura trees covering it from above letting small rays of light in. Sakura leaves were blowing gently in the wind. Ruki noticed there was a log next to the pond. She checked to see if it was dead wood, but it seemed pretty solid. She sat down on it, and watched the pond. There didn't appear to be any wildlife, which Ruki thought weird. She looked around, and relaxed. This place had a calming sort of aura, and made her forget about everything.

As she sunk deeper into her calmness, she heard a voice say, "So you've found this place too?"

Ruki was startled. She looked behind her. It was Kouji. He leaned against a tree, folded his arms, and looked to the pond. They were both quiet for awhile. Ruki's curiousity was burning. She couldnt help but ask, "What were you gonna ask earlier?"

Kouji looked up, "Huh? Oh, I already told you, it doesn't matter." he shook his head.

Ruki felt indignant, "Fine! Be that way." and she got up, and left.

Kouji stared after her, a little surprised. He shook his head again and continued to stare at the pond. He decided he didn't like Ruki as such.

Ruki began walking back. As she did, she thought about what Kouji was going to say earlier. She didn't know why, but she really wanted to know what he was going to ask. And this curiosity annoyed her.

"Ruuki!" Ruki groaned. She was getting really sick of this. She turned, to find Ryou running over to her, "I was wondering where you gone. I thought I'd hafta walk home by myself...!" he said, pretending to look distraught at this idea. Ruki rolled her eyes.

Ryou grinned, "I thought of a new nickname for you!"

Ruki rolled her eyes, "I don't think I want to know..." she said, and began walking.

"Rukii-chi! Whaddya think? I thought it sounded cute! Ne, Ruuki? ...Ruki?" Ruki had stopped. They were at the point where they parted ways, but Ruki wasnt carrying on, "Ruki..?" Ryou asked, walking in front of her, and waving his hand in her face. 'Rukii-chi..' Ruki thought.

"Ok honey, now turn around, yes, well done sweetie!" It was the day, when Ruki was 8 years old, and her mum had taken her for her first photo shoot. Ruki didn't want to go, but her mum managed to get the sickeningly pink dress on Ruki, and drag her to her agency. Koko, her mother's favourite photographer, was shooting Ruki.

She was obssessed, "I can see another Rumiko-chan in the making! Only let's call you... Rukii-chi! How cute! Okay, now smile!" And Ruki smiled, but not her real smile. Her fake one. Concealing her emotion. Yes. That was day she had lost her smile. And after that-

"Ruuki?" Ruki blinked, "You're spacing out... are you okay?" Ruki felt angry. Ryou had made her think about that time and she didnt want to.

She turned to him. "..again..."

Ryou looked confused, "Huh?"

"Don't ever call me by that... _name_ again!" she hissed at him, then she turned on her heel and ran home.

Ryou stood there, completely bewildered, "Ruki... " He looked at the floor, "Dammit! I didn't mean...!" Then he paused. "Actually... do I really need to try...?" he stared after her a little while longer, then returned home.

Ruki went up to her bedroom straight away. She sat on her bed, glaring at her pillow. She didn't want to think about it, so she picked up her bag and pulled out her homework. It may have been boring but it was better than letting her stupid thoughts carry on.

~REVISED: This chapter went quicker than I thought. Done the usual editing; spelling, grammar and the actual story dialoge and so on -gasp- So I hope it's looking better~


	6. The eleventh day

~REVISED: Notes at the end~

A week passed. Ruki had avoided Ryou as best as she could. When he met with her in the mornings, she completely blanked him. In the evenings, she constantly changed her routes home every day. She'd even managed to avoid Juri by hanging out in the computer room. Most days after school, she'd go to the little spot she'd discovered. Kouji was there most of the time, and although they didnt talk much, the silence wasn't uncomfortable.

Ruki woke up at 6am. She showered, got dressed, made breakfast etc.

When she sat down to pack her bag, she heard a voice whisper, "Erm... Ruki-chan." Ruki looked up. It was her mother. She was sitting on the other side of the table. She looked sad, and said quietly. "Ruki... Erm... I'll be going away again... in two days time in fact. So... I won't be here for your birthday. But I was wondering if you would like to come with me... it's Kyoto and-"

Ruki, who had finished packing, didn't look at her mum, "No! Why would I want to come? You'd only want me to wear stupid, frilly dresses!" and she turned and stormed out the house. As she walked, her upset faded somewhat.

Well, until she heard an unfortunately familiar voice calling her name. Ruki picked up her pace. "Ruki! Listen to me! I-!"

"I don't wanna hear it!" Ruki hissed.

Ryou had caught up now. "Jeez, Ruki! I can't do anything if I don't know what I did!"

Ruki sighed exasperatedly and stopped. "I'm not explaining anything!"

Ryou shook his head, "Okay, fine, don't. But please stop this! I won't call you that name again. Besides... " he finished, with a mischievous tone.

Ruki groaned, "Now what?"

Ryou grinned, "I came up with a /new/ nickname! "Wild Cat!""

Ruki raised one of her eyebrows, "Is that English?"

"Yep!"

"Ugh... I'm not even gonna protest, just do whatever you want."

"Oh, a nickname you like, I see! Yay!"

Ruki decided not to respond to this. What was the point, especially when it came to Ryou? Did this mean they were on good terms again or- 'I'm never on good terms with him. I'm on no sort of terms with him. Being angry with him will only make that seem more real – there's just no point.'

When they arrived at school and parted ways, Ryou's first thought was, 'So... will she be talking to me again? Well, at least replying to me.'

Ruki wasn't sure where to go. So instead, whilst Ryou was dragged away by his fangirls, she leaned against the gate. The bell rang, and she quickly walked to class.

The first 2 lessons went past relatively quickly. Suddenly, everything seemed to dull down. Even Ryou's annoying antics were becoming boring and usual.

Break came, and Ruki heard Juri call, "Ruki-chan!"

'Why does everyone think they're familiar with me?' She ignored Juri and quickly carried on walking.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, "Um... Ruki-chan? Are you upset with me?" asked Juri.

Ruki shrugged, and shook her head.

"...No, I'm not, Juri-san. Sorry, excuse me."

She walked into the computer room, opened the door and closed it behind her.

"Hey!" said a familiar, friendly voice. It was Miyako. She smiled at Ruki, "You're looking kinda worn out!" 'You have no idea' Ruki thought. Ever since her and Miyako's moment of tension, Ruki had noticed Miyako seeming a little more... wary or her? She hadn't brought it up, but it was obvious if they ever got back onto that subject, some sort of argument would happen.

Ruki sat down, and noticed Koushiro wasn't there. "Hey, where's Koushiro-sempai?"

Miyako clapped her hand to her mouth, "I completely forgot to tell you! Oh, how _could_ I?" she exclaimed.

Ken, whom was sitting next to Miyako, shook his head, "I don't think Koushiro-sempai would want us to say..."

"Hey, I know Ruki-chan wouldn't tell a soul!" she looked to Ruki, grinning, "Right? Ruki-chan?" 'What's with the familiarity? And anywayz, I don't think Miyako really cares, she just wants to gossip... '

"Why would I? Ruki replied, shrugging.

Miyako turned back to Ken, "See? Hehe!"

Ken shook his head again, "Well... Okay..."

Miyako grinned, "Koushiro-sempai asked Mimi-chan out!"

"And..?" Ruki replied, sounding uninterested,

"And?" Miyako asked heatedly, "And Mimi-chan said yes!"

"Good for Koushiro-sempai."

"AND." Miyako continued, "I know all the details of Mimi-chan's date with Jou-sempai!"

Ken shook his head again, "Honestly Miyako-san, you're obsessed."

"Can I take that as a compliment?" Miyako asked happily.

Ken smiled, "If you want..." Ruki rolled her eyes. What was it with kids at this school?

The bell rang, and Ruki left quickly. As she walked, she banged into someone, and fell to the floor "Ow... Hey! Watch where you're going...!" she glanced up, "Kouji?"

Kouji, who hadn't fallen, looked down on her, "Hello... Ruki-sempai."

Ruki got up, "I'm hardly a sempai! And watch out in future." she fumed.

Kouji shrugged, "Whatever..." he said. Without another word, he carried on walking.

Ruki glared at his back, and then walked to class.

As she reached the door and opened it, Ryou poked his head round the door, that annoying grin on his face, "Hi! Ruuki!"

"What happened to "Wild Cat"?"

"Well... I might use it sometimes, depending on the situation!"

"And what situation might that be?"

Ryou continued grinning, "A romantic one!" he said teasingly.

Ruki put a hand on his face, and pushed him backwards, "Yeah yeah, whatever, pretty boy!"

"Ow... you're hurting me, Hime... "

"Hey! Ryou, who're ya talking to?" asked a voice from behind Ryou.

Ryou turned, "Oh, hey Hirokazu-kun! It's just Ruuki!"

"Ruuki?" asked another boy, his voice sounded more timid. Ruki recognised the voices. It was the two boys she'd overheard the other day with Takato.

"That's right Kenta-kun, Ruuki!"

"Ruki...? The new girl we heard about?" asked the boy named Hirokazu.

Ryou nodded, "You weren't here when she was introduced were you?"

"Pretty boy!" said Ruki exasperatedly, "Instead of being annoying and in the way, would you move? I can't get into the classroom!"

Ryou quickly moved aside, winked at her as she walked in, and bowed, "I am sorry Hime!" he said, mock-ashamedly.

Kenta's eyes widened, "H-Hime? Is she _really_ a-?"

"Are you a moron or what, Kenta? Besides, she's better than a princess - she's the Digimon Queen!" interrupted Hirokazu, bending down and pulling Kenta into a headlock.

"I-I knew that! Hey! Stop it!" stuttered Kenta,

"What're you two babbling about?" Ruki asked sharply, making the two bickering boys look up, their eyes blank,

"Huh?" said Hirokazu stupidly.

He irritated Ruki, "I _mean_ I don't know what you're talking about!" she said hotly. Of course, she did know, she just didn't want anyone making a scene, she couldn't care less anymore.

Hirokazu carried on with his blank stare, "B-But I'm sure... "He said after awhile,

"Well you're _wrong_ aren't you?" she shot back.

"Now's the time to use it," Ryou interjected, "Calm down, Wild Cat!"

Before Ruki could retort, the teacher walked in, "Everyone... why are you not in your seats?" he practically roared. This made everyone jump, and they rushed to their seats.

The next two lessons past (With a big lecture from Saki-sensei to start with) and it was lunch. Ruki rushed out, only to walk into someone, again! Neither fell back this time, and Ruki looked to see who it was.

Takato cowered a little at her glaring expression, "S-Sorry!" he stammered.

"Watch were you're going!" she told him. Using the same phrase twice in the same day...

Takato jumped back a little, and Ruki pushed past him, "W-Wait!" he called after her.

She groaned and turned, "What is it now?"

"Um... Have you seen Katou-san?" he asked shyly.

Ruki rolled her eyes, "No." she said, annoyed.

Takato looked at the ground, "Okay. Uh... sorry! When I saw her earlier, she looked kinda upset, and when I asked what was wrong, she just shook her head, and I _think_ she said your name and... Uh..." he trailed off.

Ruki shrugged, but she felt guilty. She shook her head and, hopefully, the feeling with it. Why should she feel guilty? It was Juri's fault for trying to be all... pal-y with her in the first place! But still, the guilt remained. And it bugged Ruki too much.

Infuriated, she turned back to Takato, and almost shouted, "Where's Juri-san?"

Takato almost fell backwards at the outburst, and stuttered, "I-I already said I didn't know... I'm starting to think she went home... she felt ill, y'know. I'm kinda worried about her and- huh? Makino-san!" Ruki had already begun walking away, filled with annoyed and somewhat guilty thoughts.

A voice interrupted these thoughts. "Hi! I haven't seen you in a while! How've you been?" It was Hikari. Ruki wanted to get away, but Hikari had already begun walking beside her, like she was some sort of friend of Ruki's.

Ruki didn't know what to do, so she said quietly, "I'm fine, Hikari-chan, you?"

"I'm okay I suppose!" she replied cheerfully, "So... you going to the new year's concert?"

A little puzzled, Ruki asked, "What's that?"

Hikari put her hand to her forehead, "You wouldn't know! Um... you know Yamato-sempai?"

"Um... no" was Ruki's quiet, holding-back-annoyance reply,

"Oh, I thought you would've! Everyone knows Yama-sempai! Hmm-hmm! He's the lead singer of the school band: the "Digital wolves"! It's pretty good actually."

"Hm... " was Ruki's half-bored reply. She couldn't care less.

Hikari, seemingly feining ignorance, carried on, "Usually, guys ask girls that they like to go with them! It's like a custom."

"Are you interested in any guys at all?" Ruki asked, and then wished she hadn't.

"Nah. They're all kinda annoying... "

"What about that Takeru guy?"

"Takeru-kun? Oh Ruki-san, not you too! I know it kinda seems like that, but we aren't dating!" she said, a hint of exasperation in her voice. Ruki shrugged.

They reached the end of the corridor, and went through the door to the grounds. Ruki walked without looking and *WHAM* she walked straight into someone. She hoped this wouldn't turn into a habit. The boy fell to the ground, and Ruki stumbled back, only to be supported by whom she thought Hikari,

"Thanks..." she mumbled,

"Anytime, Ruuki!" said that annoying, flirtatious voice of Ryou.

He was holding onto her shoulders so she shook him off, "You! Are you stalking me? You are, aren't you? Leave me alone!" she half-yelled at him,

"Whoa! Sorry, Wild Cat!"

This infuriated Ruki all the more, but a voice interrupted them, "Takeru-kun!" said a concerned voice. Ruki looked in the direction it had come from. Then took in what name the voice had called and looked down. The boy she'd knocked over was Takeru?

Sure enough, Takeru sat in the floor, rubbing his elbow joint, "Ouuuch..." he said.

"Sorry... " Ruki mumbled.

Takeru looked up and grinned, "Its fine! Don't worry!"

Hikari walked over, "Here." she said, holding out her hand and smiling. Takeru reached for it, but was quickly pulled up by someone else, a tall blonde boy, who wore the green high school uniform. He was startlingly good looking. Not that thought's like those ever occupied Ruki's mind.

"Takeru-kun! Are you okay?" He asked, looking concerned.

Takeru looked at him, surprised and a little awkward, "Calm down, Yamato-sempai! I only fell... "

Yamato shook his head, "Yeah... Sorry." An awkward silence fell. Ruki didn't know why she was there anymore. She turned to look at Ryou, whom was looking at the floor. Ruki was bored with this, so she turned and walked away, ignoring the thoughts of what Hikari, Takeru and Yamato would think. She heard someone behind her, 'Three guesses who' she thought, and enough, Ryou was trailing behind her.

"What do you want _now_, you stalker?" she snapped.

Ryou, whom had been looking at the floor, looked up and shrugged, "I'm just thinking about... Never mind... Hey, I was thinking..."

Ruki shook her head, "I don't really care..."

"I don't know much about you!" he said quickly, a hint of embarrassment entering his voice.

Ruki stopped, and turned, "What _are_ you talking about?"

Ryou's stupid grin appeared, "Well, I care! But I mean like... when's your birthday?"

"April 1st." Ruki blurted, and then really _really_ wished she hadn't.

"That's... In ten days!"

Ruki shrugged again, "And...? Huh? ...Ryou!" Ryou had already turned and run off. Ruki was a silent for a minute, the thought, 'Oh dammit... What if he's thinking of throwing me a party? Or something predictable like that?' waded across her mind. It then hit her, and she ran in the direction Ryou had gone. She checked in the classroom, 'Yess!' she thought, as she observed a part of the class gathered around Ryou. She decided not to storm in there, and instead listen. Although her annoyance with Ryou was burning, she couldn't ignore her curiosity as to what specifically he was doing. No one had noticed her, so she hid outside the doorway to the side, sat down, and listened to what was going on:

"Okay, guys! Listen up!" Ryou said loudly.

"Ryou, why are you wasting my time?" asked the annoyed voice of Junpei,

"Yeah!" called Miyako, "What's the deal?"

"Calm down!" was Ryou's relaxed reply, "Okay guys, you know Ruki pretty much now right?"

There was a slight pause, then a simultaneous "Why?" broke out.

Then Junpei called, "She's kinda mean.."

"I know she's nice really but..." was Hikari's contribution (To which Ruki thought, 'How many people has Ryou got in there? And _how_ did he get them so fast!')

"She's kinda cold..." was Miyako's answer.

A few more followed, nearly all negative (Ruki didn't care though, she was sort of expecting it) and Ryou hushed them, "Well guys..." he said loudly, "Haven't you noticed that she always looks... kinda down?"

"You're right!" called Juri ('She's _hasn't_ gone home?' thought Ruki)

"Look Ryou, what are you up to?" asked the calm voice of Jenrya.

Ruki could just see Ryou's stupid grin spreading across his stupid face, "_That's_ what I'm trying to get to! Ruki's birthday is in ten days! And...

"Ooh! I _love_ surprise parties!" Miyako called, "Me and Ken-kun can do anything involving computers! And Koushiro-sempai won't mind helping either! Oh, and I can help with any additional planning! I can bring food from my family's store!" Yes, surprise parties really were Miyako's forte.

"That's great Miyako-chan!" said Ryou, cheerfully, "Anyone else have any suggestions on what we could do?" Everyone's enthusiasm increased as they all came up with ideas. Hikari would take any photos they want, Takato would supply bread etc. Ruki listened. She couldn't believe this. Everyone, even Junpei, whom seemed kinda reluctant, was thinking and trying to help. Ruki felt almost touched. Maybe... Maybe she could call them friends?

'No.'

She stood up. She had to stop this; she _hated_ parties, and other stupid social events.

When she took a step, she heard Juri's voice piped up, "Um... Ryou-kun? Why are you doing this for Ruki-chan?"

"Huh? Well... Well, I guess... She's kinda like family to me?

"I think someone has a Tamaki Suou complex~" called out Miyako.

"Yeah! You're Tama-chan! You love her really!" called out another.

"NOOOO!" called out a few of Ryou's fangirls.

Ryou sounded a little indignant now, "N-No! Geez, I don't know why then, I guess I just think it'd be nice to throw her a party. Like a welcoming party?" he said, trying to deflect the accusations.

_'Of course I don't. I know exactly why I'm doing this. I probably should just stop...'_

Ruki felt a little embarrassed. She shook her head. 'I can't let them do this! It's a waste of time! It's not like they're my...' RIIIINNNGGG! Went the bell, '...friends...' and her trail of thought stopped.  
She looked into the class. Everyone had gone, 'Huh?' Ruki thought, a little freaked out. 'How'd they leave so fast? ...Actually, how did he gather so many people so fast, I mean really! And anyway, this is our classroom so where...' Ruki got out her lesson list. It was games, last lesson, on Thursday, every other week. Ruki paused. She thought, 'B-But... I haven't brought my games stuff... Oh no!' She'd heard rumours of how strict the gym teacher was. She'd get a week's detention if she was late _and_ turned up without her stuff. And the gym was... '...I don't know?' Ruki's internal alarm bells were ringing.

Then she relaxed, 'I s'pose I could play hooky, I mean, it's not like it's the first time I'll be doing it.' and she went over to the nearby toilets. This block of the school seemed empty - she remembered a lot of the kids were on a trip today. She went into one of the toilet cubicles and leant against the cubicle wall.

She didn't want those guys to throw her a party. And anyway, how could they? She knew what they were up to, if they tried to get her to go anywhere, she'd know, and refuse, 'That settles that.' she thought, 'But... if I get a moment with Ryou... I'll skin him alive.' satisfied, she got out her mp3 player and headphones and leant her head against the wall she was leaning against and closed her eyes, making sure to keep the music's volume down so she could hear if anyone entered the toilets. She quickly began dozing though.

Ruki was awakened by the school bell, so she quickly put her headphones away and walked out. She went round the backs of the school, hoping no teacher would see her. Then she remembered the path where that "glade", as she liked to refer to it now, was, from yesterday. She found the path and made sure no teachers had spotted her, and neither any of the students. As she walked, she began thinking about her dream she'd had whilst dozing earlier, a little embarrassedly. She had dreamt she was a Digimon Tamer! Not only that, but her Digimon...!

She shook her head, "Grow _up_ Ruki! Things like that _don't_ happen! They just don't..." Her mind trailed back to her Digimon. _Her_ Digimon? Renamon. She once had the Renamon card, it was actually her very first Digimon card, given to her by her father. She'd lost it recently and had been distraught. But she'd told herself she was being melodramatic. Besides, she didn't play the Digimon card game anymore anyway. She eventually spotted the entrance. When she was in the glade, she sat down at her favourite spot; on a log by the pond. As she sat down, she felt the sensation of being watched.

She looked behind her, "Kouji?" she asked cautiously.

"Huh?" asked Kouji's voice from behind the tree to Ruki's left, "Oh, you. Why do you keep coming here?"

Ruki forgot about her sensation of being watched, because Kouji and his stupid comments were annoying her too much. She stood up, "Why are _you_ always here? Haven't you got somewhere better to be? Like say... your _home_?" Ruki snapped

Kouji shrugged, "I don't exactly wanna go there... "

Ruki sat back down, "Hmph. Well, I don't wanna go back to my "home" either."

They sat in silence for awhile, until Kouji said quietly, "Why do you always look so... upset? And sound so annoyed? D'you know how... annoying it is? Anyway, I found this spot, and I've claimed it, so leave."

Ruki stood up abruptly, "You've "claimed" it? What the hell is this? Some kind of childish "war"?"

Kouji glared, "What? Of course not. It's just true. Don't get so snappy." he said, in that infuriatingly cool manner of his.

Ruki sat back down once again and said, "Look, I'm not going, you can't make me, so get lost or deal with it, loner boy."

Kouji snorted, "Look who's talking. You're just as much a "loner" as me."

Ruki decided to ignore that and stared at the pond for awhile.

"So... why _do_ you keep coming here?" Kouji asked.

"I... Don't wanna see my mom so much... Look, it's none of your business."

"Heh." Was Kouji's simple reply.

"What about you?" Ruki asked, "Why do _you_ keep coming here?"

Kouji shrugged.

"I told you!" Ruki said, but she found her tone of voice annoyed her more than Kouji...

Kouji side glanced at her, "Ever heard of the "Real world"? A.K.A "Reality"?"

Ruki felt even more irritated, "What are you talking about?"

"I mean... Just because you told me, doesn't mean I have to tell you. Just 'cuz you do something for someone, doesn't mean they have to do anything in return." He said, sounding bored.

Ruki felt so wound up at this. What was she, a child? And he was some sort of fountain of wisdom?

"Of _course_ I know! I'm not a kid! You're the one sitting here, being all moody, and not _doing_ anything about anything!"

"What's that got to do with anything? And it's not like you can't say you're not doing the same thing yourself."

"You're no more mature yourself! You just stand here every evening and preach to other people! You're the one talking about "reality" when you can't seem to be able to deal with your own."

This seemed to hit a nerve, "What else can I do? I...! I..." he didn't say anymore.

It seemed that the sun was setting, 'Already?' Ruki thought. Her mother would probably send out the National Guard!

She stood up and turned, "I'm gonna be here tomorrow. And probably a lot more after that. You'd better get used to it!"

"And what if I don't?" was Kouji's quiet reply.

"You'll just have to get used to it! "Reality"! Remember?" was her answer, and she walked back through the glade, and out.

Kouji stayed for 10 more minutes, then left.

It was now 7:30, and Ryou stepped out from the bushes he'd been hiding in.

He looked around, "I just came to check on this place and... Haha, ironic, finding her here." he walked over to the log where Ruki had been sitting and sat down himself, 'Poor Ruki... Kouji sure can be... but then again, after what's happened to him, I don't really blame him... Funny, he and Ruki aren't that different it seems... but really, it made me think, I really don't know much about Ruki... And the way they were just then... they really can relate to each other. But does that mean my... My... Well, I wouldn't call it a bond as such but... does that mean my "bond" with Ruki doesn't mean a lot? ...And what do I mean "doesn't mean a lot?"?'

He stood up, "Snap out of it Ryou!" he said fake-cheerfully, "I'm being so OOC! I know what I'm doing here. Gotta stop thinking like this." He turned to leave, 'Nothing's going to change. I'm stuck here. No getting out of it. I'm stuck here and I'm still... ' He made his way through the bushes at the entrance to get out, '...alone...'

When Ruki got home, her mother called, "Ruki-chan!" She came out of the kitchen, "Why are you so late?" she asked very worriedly,

"None of your business!" snapped Ruki, and walked into the kitchen. Dinner was laid out on the table. She sat down and ate quickly, desperate to get out and upstairs into her room. Her mother sat opposite.

There was silence (Like usual) until her mother tried to make conversation (Like usual), "So Ruki-chan... How was school today?" Ruki grunted, finished eating, and left quickly for her room. Once she shut her bedroom door, she sat on her bed, and let out a deep sigh. She wasn't sure why, but everything felt so complicated and... Sad.

[OLD NOTE]: Sorry it took so long! Really sorry! I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP. Anyway, reviews please, people! ^^ Arigatou.  
Hiroko-ka

~REVISED: Yesh, finally. XD Yeah, quite a lot of dialoge changes again, as well as the usual grammar/spelling checks. I do think it's seeming better now x3 I'll carry on editing until I reach a chapter where I think I'd uh... gained more of an insight as a fanfiction writer instead of a total noob? XD So yeah, hope you enjoyed this chapter~


	7. The twelth day

~REVISED: Notes at the end~

Ruki woke up at 7:30. She opened her eyes blearily, and looked around. She looked at the time, "Dammit! I thought I'd set my alarm!" she jumped out of bed, and quickly went into the bathroom to shower. After, she ran back into her room, and got changed.

It was now 7:45, "Damn, it takes me half an hour for me and Ryou- what am I saying? _Me_ to walk there! And breakfast takes about 20 minutes! I'm gonna be late and I played hooky yesterday! If my mom finds out, I'm so gonna-"

She must have been talking to herself loudly or something, because she heard a door open, and her mother call tiredly, "Ruki? Are you still here? You're normally eating breakfast by now..."

Ruki hurried the making of her breakfast, and ended up burning it, "ARGH!" she exclaimed in frustration.

Her mother walked into the kitchen, "Oh Ruki-chan! Shall I drive you into school?"

"You might miss your precious photo shoot!" Ruki told her sarcastically.

"Ruki-chan! Don't say it like that! It'll be fi-!"

"I'm leaving!" Ruki cut in, a bit of food in her mouth, grabbing her bag, and storming out the door.

Ruki's mother stood there in surprised silence for awhile, then, "Oh Ruki-chan..."

Ruki ran as fast as she could, although she couldn't reach the speed of her trail of thoughts, 'Stupid mom! Like hell I was gonna get a lift with _her_, ugh! At least I don't have to deal with stupid pretty boy! And- Oh no, that party! Those idiots, they're just so-'

"Hi, Ruuki! Think you could slow down?"

'Speaking of idiots...' thought Ruki, not slowing down, 'Here's the king of 'em.' "Pretty boy? What're _you_ doing here? Now we're _both_ gonna be late!"

"We'd better hurry then, hadn't we?" Ryou replied cheekily, now running beside her.

"Argh!" Ruki exclaimed in frustration, for the second time that morning.

They reached the gate, eventually, and stopped. The bell had just gone, and the students were still moving to class.

"Phew! We made it!"

"Who's "we"? And anyway, why were you there?"

"I was waiting for you."

"What _are_ you? A _dog_?"

"Aw, Hime... Heh, maybe I am!" He said, that stupid grin on his face once again.

The thing was, Ruki couldn't tell if it was truthful or not, that stupid grin.

"RYOU-SAMA!" Ruki's thoughts were interrupted by Ryou's fangirls, who bounded over, "Oh, hello, Makino-san." said one or two, disdainfully.

"What's _your_ problem?" Ruki muttered under her breath. She wasn't gonna put up with their crap, she hadn't done anything! They looked startled, then looked at her coldly and turned back to Ryou.

"So, Ryou-sama!"

"What're are we gonna do today?" they asked him, innocently.

Ryou narrowed his eyes at them, something Ruki never thought she'd see him do, "What's your problem with Ruki?" he asked calmly.

The girls, all five, went red, "R-Ryou-sama.." stammered the first one.

She looked to the other girls, nodded, and they turned to Ruki and bowed, "We're very sorry Makino-san!"

Ruki didn't need this, they seemed so... stupid. "W-Whatever!"

Ryou shrugged, and one of the girls exclaimed, "Ah, Ryou-sama! We're late for class!" and without another look at Ruki, the first one grabbed Ryou's sleeve and pulled him away, but not without Ryou calling, "See ya later, Ruuki!"

Ruki snorted, "He's nuts." She said aloud.

She began to walk to class. As she did, she heard a couple of girls whispering excitedly. Whilst she couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, she did pick up the words "Kouji-sama.." and suddenly really did not want to know what they were talking about. 'Some of the girls here...' Ruki couldn't even begin to describe them.

A few metres away from the school building where her class was, Ruki thought she heard a harmonica playing. It was a very pretty melody. Ruki decided she wasn't just hearing things and that she was intrigued enough to find the source. As she followed the sound, she walked past the small bits of shrubbery, and behind an old school building. Whilst it didn't look dilapidated, it certainly didn't look like it'd been used for awhile. At the top of the steps, she saw a boy playing the harmonica she'd heard. It was that older boy, who had blonde hair and wore the high school uniform, she'd seen the day before, the one who seemed a bit protective of Takeru. He had his eyes closed, and seemed to be putting his heart and soul into his song. It was soothing, listening to it. For one moment, Ruki felt she could forget everything; it was such a nice melody. She didn't move from where she was stood, and simply closed her eyes and listened. When he seemed to have finished, he put his harmonica in his pocket, and stood up. That was when he saw Ruki.

"Uah!" He grabbed onto the rail to stop himself from falling down the steps.

Ruki blinked, "E-Eh?"

The boy regained his balance and stood up again, "What are you doing here?" he asked, annoyed.

Ruki felt indignant, "I'm allowed to be where I want, aren't I?"

He took a deep breath, then laughed a little, "Well, no... You should be in lessons now, really. Practicing to be a delinquent?"

Ruki couldn't even think of a response. She simply opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, then narrowed her eyes at him. The boy sat down again, "So, you heard me huh? And... Oh! You're the girl I saw the other day! When Takeru-kun..."

This was something Ruki could respond to, "Yeah, so?"

"Was it deliberate? Pushing Takeru-kun over?" He asked, a little heatedly,

"What? No! I-I didn't even- Jeez, overprotective older brother, huh? Whatever..."

The boy calmed down a bit again. "Heh, he's not my brother. Although... he does kinda... " the boy trailed off.

Ruki felt confused, "But you look similar... And you seemed sort of... "She said, her confusion sounding in her voice.

The boy looked intently at her, "...Sort of what...?" he asked.

Ruki shrugged; even she wasn't sure what she was getting at. "...Exactly what I said; you seemed like a protective older brother.

The boy gave her a funny look, and then shook his head, "I'm Ishida Yamato."

"Oh. Yeah, uh, Ishida-sempai." Ruki replied, shrugging.

Yamato looked at his watch, stood up quickly and walked down the steps, "Damn, I'm pretty late. Oh well, I'm late a lot, and at least I got away from those stupid..."

"Fangirls?" Ruki finished for him.

Yamato blinked at her, "Yeah... I don't get them. Actually, they get on my nerves some of them. Not all of them are bad but the ones who are... They keep threatening Sora!"

"Sora?"

"My girlfriend."

Ruki suddenly remembered Ryou earlier, the look he'd given those girls. She'd never seen him do that, it was just for her... She shuddered at this thought, and shot it down fast. "Surely you should just tell them to leave her alone?"

"I have."

"Hmph. They're just stupid. Oh well."

Yamato gave her another odd look, "Whatever... What's your name?"

"Makino Ruki."

"Makino-chan? Well, see ya around." He turned and walked away.

'Ok, I think that's taken the official weirdest encounter of the day trophy.' Ruki thought. "Oh dammit!" She remembered she had class. She turned, and walked quickly toward her class, "Saki-sensei is gonna... ugh!"

When she reached the class, Saki-sensei told her to wait outside. She was questioned about her absence the day before, and got a detention on behalf of her gym teacher. Ruki wasn't sure how she could've avoided it. At break, she went to her classroom and sat down in her seat.

Saki-sensei sighed, "You _and_ Ryou-kun. Honestly!"

"Ry..ou..?" she asked slowly,

"Shh! No talking, this is a detention!"

Just then, the door opened, "Sorry I'm late, sensei!" said Ryou's loud, annoying, makes-you-want-to-hit-him voice.

"Shhh! Take your seat and keep silent! This is a detention, remember, Ryou-kun?" Saki-sensei repeated exasperatedly,

"Oh yeah, sorry, Sensei!" Ryou said loudly again, and Saki-sensei glared.

"Just take your seat!"

Ryou walked over to his seat, next to Ruki. He waved at her and mouthed, "Hi!"

Ruki rolled her eyes, and looked to the window. She saw Yamato walking past with a boy who had a massive shock of chocolate brown hair, and goggles. They were walking together and laughing. The boy was carrying a football under his arm, 'Soccer eh..? Heh, wonder how long it's been since I played _that_.' she thought, a little nostalgically.

They walked out of the window's view, and then Ruki saw Juri walk past with Tomoki beside her, chatting away, with Takuya right behind them, grinning. 'So, Tomoki's found someone new to bug huh?' Ruki thought idly.

They walked out of sight, and then Ruki saw Jou-sempai walk past, with Mimi beside him. He looked very cheerful, and was blushing a bit, whereas Mimi was smiling happily talking. Her dyed pink hair bouncing on her shoulders. As they walked past, she saw Miyako walk slowly behind them, creeping a bit, obviously spying on them. ('Okay, this is really turning into a tedious procession of Who-I-Know now...') Ruki rolled her eyes at Miyako though. 'Jeez. She needs to quit doing that; it's like watching paparazzi spy on celebrities or something sad!' She couldn't help but feel amused. Behind Miyako was Ken, who seemed a little nervous, and seemed to be whispering something to Miyako. Ruki could only imagine:

Ken: Miyako-chan, should we really be doing this...?

Miyako: Oh _relax_, Ken-kun! They don't realise-!

Ken: Yeah but...

Miyako: No buts!

Ruki stifled a snort of amusement. She got through the detention and the next two lessons without too much bother. (From Ryou that is.) When lunch happened, she didn't want to bother with the next detention, as she had a headache and Ryou would only make it worse. She walked outside. She needed a bit of fresh air and to eat her lunch, then, she decided, she'd go to her detention. She leant against the building, and got out her lunch, and began to eat. As she did, she noticed a young boy, about Tomoki's age, walking past. He was wearing a purple jumper, white trousers, and his hair was pretty odd to Ruki. It looked like a bowling ball.

"Excuse me, what are you looking at?" the boy must have noticed her staring.

Ruki jumped, "W-What are you talking about?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I'm taught its rude to stare at people..." Ruki shrugged. 'What's with this kid?' He looked to the floor, then said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot my manners..." He bowed, hands by his sides, "My name is Hida Iori. Um, and your name, Sempai?"

Ruki raised her eyebrows, 'Manners? Why care about those? And anywayz, how old is this kid? Why is he worrying about stuff like that...?'

Ruki." she said simply. She wasn't going to be so formal.

"Your last name?"

"None of your business."

"Ok... Um... Ruki-sempai, have you seen a boy named Tomoki-kun around?"

"That whiny kid? Haven't seen him in awhile actually-"

"He's not whiny." Iori said quietly.

"He sure seemed it to me." Ruki replied, bored.

"How can you be so...!" He stopped himself and shook his head. "Well, I guess you haven't, sorry to bother you..." He said quietly and was about to walk away, when Ruki asked, "Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why do you want to see him?"

Iori looked taken aback. "Uh... No real reason... I just wanted to see if he was ok..."

"Oh, a friend of his huh? Surprised he has any..." Ruki picked up an onigiri with her chopsticks.

"Is it right for a Sempai such as yourself to speak like that about those younger than you? And no. I'm not exactly a friend of his... I mean, I'd like to be I guess..."

"Eh?"

"Well... I want him to hang out with some of my friends and me but... He's always hanging out with the older kids, and Junpei-sempai can be so harsh sometimes and I've never even talked to Kanbara-senpai..."

Ruki snorted, "I'll talk to him then. Jeez, it's not that hard. Junpei-san is an idiot really, same goes for Takuya-kun."

Iori's eyes lit up ever so slightly. He didn't even seem to notice her insults. "Would you really do that? I mean... Thank you."

Ruki shrugged. She didn't understand why she was being so nice, both kids bugged her, she decided. "I'll probably see the kid with Juri-san somewhere, so I'll ask him then."

"Thank you..."

"Jeez kid, it's not like it's a big deal." Iori hadn't heard her, he seemed happy. He bowed to her, and then strolled away.

Ruki shook her head, "Or maybe that encounter was weirder..."

"Helping out the kids? Ruuki-hime, you are too kind!"

Ruki swivelled round to face Ryou who'd just walked out from nowhere, "If I see your face one more time..." she muttered, seething a little.

"You'll jump into my arms?" he said, sounding mock-hopeful.

"You wish." she replied,

"Yeah, I do wish!"

She poked him in the cheek, "Shut up!"

"Having fun?"

"What _are_ you talking about now?" she asked, exasperatedly,

"Well... Ah, never mind. Anyway, shouldn't we be in detention now?" Ruki ate the rest of her onigiri fast. (Except one, because Ryou snatched it out of her bento box, but not without a death-threat.)

As they walked back, Ruki asked, "That Iori kid..." Ruki wasn't sure how to continue that sentence.

Ryou shrugged, "Well... Iori-kun has always wanted to be friends with Tomoki-kun... But he's never known how to talk to someone like Tomoki. Actually, he doesn't know how to talk to a lot of kids his age. Ya might not have noticed, but that kid is really mature for his age."

"Who couldn't notice? ...If you knew about all this though, then why didn't you do anything?'"

He shrugged, "Me and Iori's father, before he died, weren't on great terms y'see, and Iori was especially close to him..."

Ruki stopped, "He...!" She looked at the ground, "...N-No..."

'...I've got a lot in common with that Iori kid, apparently...'

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" Ruki snapped,

"Sorry!" Ryou shook his head and looked away.

After lunchtime, and the final lesson, as the bell rang, students streamed out onto the playground. Ruki was just one of those that streamed out onto the playground. She was determined to get away from Ryou, since he had been annoying her all lunch. She quickly walked to the secluded path, which took her to "The Glade".

As she walked, she heard a thump behind her. Startled, she looked around quickly, it was Kouichi! He had fallen flat on his face. He quickly got up, looking embarrassed. He had a massive bruise coming up on his right cheek.

He rubbed it, "Owww..." he mumbled.

Ruki sighed, "...Are you okay?"

He looked at her, and went a little red, "Eheh, yeah! Sorry, I guess I'm a bit of a clutz..."

Ruki shrugged. "Yeah yeah, maybe put some ice on that or something, I dunno..."

Kouichi laughed, "Oh, eheh, will do."

Ruki didn't know why she'd suggested anything. She turned away from him and walked away.

When she reached the small wooded area, she sat on the log, and looked up, "So you _are_ still coming here...?" She sighed, "I might've guessed..."

"Hey, you expect me to stop coming just 'cuz _you're_ here? You think of yourself too highly, y'know?" Kouji told her, walking over to the tree he usually leant against.

Ruki was about to snap, when she noticed a bruise on his right cheek. She immediately thought about Kouichi's fall earlier, and blurted, "How did you get that bruise?"

Kouji shrugged, "I dunno, it just _appeared. _Like, 10 minutes ago."

"Doesn't it, like, _hurt_ at all?"

"That's what the girls' who stalk me ask."

"Oh great, more fangirls." Ruki remembered the girls who had said 'Kouji-sama' and shuddered a little bit.

Kouji snorted, "Anyway, no, it doesn't hurt, which is kinda wierd. Oh well, must'a bumped into something, and not remembered."

"Hmm..." Ruki murmured, thinking. It was a strange coincidence. She shook her head, that's all it was. A coincidence.

Kouji looked at her, curiously, "What?"

Ruki shrugged, and looked to the pond.

Kouji was silent for awhile, then said, "Yeah... I know.."

Ruki looked up, "Huh?"

"Kouichi... He fell over earlier, and got a bruise in the same place, yeah?"

Dumbfounded, Ruki nodded her head slowly. Kouji saw the weirded-out look on her face and laughed, which weirded her out all the more.

"You can _laugh?_" she asked him, half-incredulously. This made him laugh all the more.

Ruki snorted, and shook her head.

When Kouji stopped, he continued, but the normally, bored, slightly depressing look wasn't in his eyes, for once. "Well... It's happened before... Hey... Why am I telling you all this?"

Ruki shrugged.

After another half an hours' worth of silence or so, Ruki stood up. "I'm gonna go. See ya."

As she did so, there was a loud rustling near the entrance.

Ruki was startled, but Kouji shook his head, "It'll be a rabbit. See ya." Ruki walked cautiously to the entrance. When she reached the point where she and Ryou parted ways, if they were walking back together; 'Err, correction: If Ryou is being an idiot, and walking next to me when I don't want him to.' she told herself.

As she looked at the fence, there he was, sitting on it.

As she approached, he waved, "Hey!"

Ruki rolled her eyes, "You're so sad... "She told him.

He laughed, "No, I just realised. Please don't tell Iori-kun that I told you that his father is dead! Or that you know his father is dead at all!"

Ruki shrugged, "Whatev-!"

"Ya gotta promise!" He sounded so... childish. It was strange.

"Look! I won't! Okay?"

Relief spread across Ryou's face, "Thanks! Now, I gotta go to the store so-!"

"How do you know?" she interrupted him. How did he know of it in the first place?

"Eh?"

"_How_ do you _know_ his father is _dead_?" she asked slowly and deliberately.

Ryou looked to the ground, "Because... I saw him die."

Ruki's eyes widened.

Ryou looked up, and smiled sadly, "But that's a story for another time, g'night!" He turned, and ran off.

"But..! Ahh! Stupid pretty boy!" There wasn't much else she could do, so she went straight home.

As she got through the door, her mother told her she was going tomorrow, and how she was sorry and the rest of her typical speech.

Ruki couldn't have given a damn, "I don't _care_!" she snapped.

"Ruki-chan! Maybe if you'd just go with me this year-!" But Ruki had already gone upstairs. Her mother looked at the floor sadly.

Ruki sat on her bed, and looked through her books. She thought about Iori, and how similar he was to her, and Ryou, whom had actually _seen_ Iori's father's death. At least she hadn't experienced anything like that.

"Oh but..." she whispered to herself, "My father is dead, and my mom... she doesn't see me... "She buried her face in her pillow, and muttered, "My life still isn't that great..."

/

~REVISED: Righty-o, I seem to have made the standard amount of dialogue change! And obviously improved grammar, speech placement and so on... Yes, getting better now me'thinks~


	8. The fithteenth day

~REVISED: Notes at the end~

Ruki woke up and sat up, and then flopped back onto her pillow, "Dammit, it's only Monday..." she muttered. She forced herself to sit up. She thought about last Friday. She hadn't found Tomoki for Iori. But she would today! She felt annoyed at these thoughts. But she felt a connection with Iori. In one way, she was doing it for herself. Maybe because he reminded her of herself? In some small way? Ruki wasn't sure, and shrugged, hoping these thoughts would go away as well. But, as she got up, she continued to think. After she had learnt what she had learnt about him, she didn't seem to see him as annoying as she had originally thought. For a little while, she waited for her mum to walk in and tell her to get ready, then remembered she'd left for Kyoto, for some stupid photo shoot. Same every year, the "Sakura models" took place every spring, the same time as Ruki's birthday. Obviously her mother had been there when she was very small, but at five...

"Mommy! Where're you goin'? It's my birthday! Daddy's not here anymore, and I don't wanna be alone for my birthday!" Young Ruki padded out onto the steps outside the front door of their old house, as her mother was outside, packing her trunks into the car.

Rumiko turned to her, her fake smile plastered on her face, "Ruki-chan, sweetie, you won't be by yourself! I've called Momoko round to babysit you. You remember Momoko, yes? She's that really nice friend of mummy's', who played with you at that meeting mummy had, yes?"

Little Ruki felt tears in her eyes, "First Daddy goes, then you have to go! I want my family to spend my birthday with me! Why? Why d'ya have to go!" she cried, the tears really starting to stream down her face.

Although she couldn't remember much from when she was five, she remembered that day very clearly. She got more and more used to it, until she was eight and she didn't care anymore. These thoughts linked to another.

She slapped her forehead, "Oh no! It's my birthday! And everyone is gonna throw me a surprise party!" She got up and shuddered, "Oh no! This is gonna be such a pain!" She rushed into the shower, got showered, ran back to her room, threw on her clothes, ran downstairs, and quickly made breakfast. At 7:45 she grabbed her backpack, and walked out the door

She almost laughed as she thought about how she was younger, when she had just started school, and used to call "Ittekimasu!" ("I'll be leaving.") And her mother would always reply "But you'll be back here before you know it!" and she would smile, not that horrible fake one she always used these days, but that sweet one she always used to have.

Ruki shook her head, trying to shake away her thoughts as she walked, "Whoa, I'm getting in _way_ too deep here!" she said aloud.

"Getting too deep into _what_, Hime?" said that oh-so annoying voice.

She looked to Ryou, "Okay, you are in grave danger of getting torn apart, is that what you want?"

"Well..." he said, casually, "Juri asked Takato to ask me if I could bring you to see her at lunch, she needs to speak with you urgently!"

Ruki rolled her eyes. She knew damn well what was going on, "Why can't she tell me earlier than that?" she asked,

"Because it's something only in classroom A5."

"That happens only at lunch?"

Ryou grinned, "Yep!"

'Real convincing' Ruki thought. She contemplated on telling Ryou she knew, but she was intrigued at _how_ they'd get her to A5, so she left it.

They walked, with Ryou's usual insignificant talk, and Ruki's annoyed, short replies.

When they arrived, Ryou's fangirls flocked round him. They ignored Ruki altogether, and looked extremely upset. Ruki wasn't sure as to why.

They dragged Ryou away, but not without him calling, "Don't forget! A5!"

"Whatever." she said quietly.

She turned, to find Jenrya, whom had also just arrived. "Hi." he said simply,

"Uh... Hi." Ruki replied.

"So, you realised yet?" he asked casually.

Ruki stared at him, "How did you know?"

"I figured you'd get it."

"Heh, you figured right." she replied,

"Yeah, she'd figure that, even if she doesn't get _other_ things." Miyako said slyly, walking over to them.

Ruki turned on her immediately, "What's _that_ supposed to me-! Ugh... Whatever." She turned and stalked away.

Unknown to Ruki, Miyako did a thumbs up to Jenrya as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"What did she mean?" She muttered to herself.

"Who's bugging you now?" Asked Kouji's voice, from behind her.

She turned, "You..! No one in particular, just _everything_!" She wasn't sure why she'd told Kouji this, nor did she care what his reaction would be, though his reaction surprised her.

"Yeah, I know how you feel, everyone here is so...stupid..."

Ruki snorted, "Yep, that's about it."

Kouji shrugged, "Here's what you do... You get through each day don't bother complaining. You can't change anything."

Ruki raised an eyebrow, "And you _don't_ complain?"

"Never said you couldn't complain outside of school."

Ruki snorted again, and almost smiled. Almost. The bell rang.

"Later." Kouji mumbled, and walked away.

Ruki walked toward her classroom. Once she reached it, took her seat, and got out her things, she looked to the front of the classroom. Saki-sensei seemed even more tired than normal, as he wrote several kanji that meant nothing to Ruki.

The first two lessons passed, and, break was spent with just Ken, as Koushiro and Miyako were on an errand. Ruki had her suspicions, but wasn't too bothered, she was just curious as to _how_ they would get her to her "party".

As lunch approached, Ruki was becoming more and more curious. Everyone was acting normal. Juri was talking with her, and doing that annoying "link-arms" thing, Takato was being his normal shy-self, talking with Junpei, Jenrya was talking with Alice, though not getting much of a response. Hirokazu and Kenta were skulking in the corner, up to something or rather, and Ryou was being... Well... Ryou!

As the bell rang, everyone Ruki knew filed out very quickly.

Ruki raised an eyebrow, 'Yes... Very inconspicuous...' she thought, amused. She left the classroom, and walked down the hall - she made sure she didn't head to A5. As she walked, she saw Kouji leaning against the wall, his arms folded. As she past, he opened one eye, sighed, then said loudly, "Hime at 3'o'clock! ...guys, please don't make me say that ever again..."

Ruki was completely bewildered, "Hu-?" Someone laid one hand on her shoulder, and another covered her eyes. Ruki wasn't sure how, but she could immediately tell Ryou had his hand on her shoulder.

"You! Get the _hell off m_-!"

"Sorry, Hime!" Said Ryou's cocky voice, as she heard Hirokazu and Kenta exclaim, "Phase 1 - CAPTURE THE PRINCESS - COMPLETE~!" And so she was dragged to, she assumed, class A5. Also, she was seething.

"Dammit, Ryou, I know you're responsible for all this! You couldn't pull of a surprise party if you were paid!" When they reached A5, all hands were taken off her.

She was about to turn and yell, "What the hell do you all think you're doing?" when she noticed the decorations and such, and everyone she knew were gathered round.

"Happy Birthday!" they all shouted in unison. Everyone was smiling, and a few were talking amongst themselves. There were banners of red, black, blue and dark green draped across the room. Tables with all sorts of cakes and sweets laid out, there was onigiri laid out on another table, and other foods, and a large cake on one other. Ruki was dumbfounded. It reminded her so much of when she was young; when she'd celebrate her birthday with her family and nursery friends.

She felt Ryou put an arm round her shoulder, "So, what'cha think, Ruuki?"

Ruki pushed his arm off, still dumbfounded, and slightly in awe that people were able to do this. All this for...

She then remembered her place here, "What do you all think you're doing? All this for _me_? I don't _need_ this, let alone _want_ it!" She walked out of the A5.

Everyone looked after her, taken aback.

Ryou turned, "Ruki! Ruki, wait! Please! Everyone tried and-!"

Ruki stopped, "You bring me here against my will, you throw some party I don't want, and then expect me to just play along?" she turned to him, outraged, "You _really_ expect me to be _happy_ about it? You-!"

"Ruki! Look, we thought it would be fun! And about dragging you here, I'm really sorry, but you knew about the party, not that I'm surprised but-"

"_Who_ told you I knew?" Ruki cut in immediately; Jenrya had just been labelled a blabber-mouth.

"Huh? Miyako-chan, why?"

"That..." Jenrya had just been stripped of the "Blabber-mouth" title and it had been given to Miyako instead.

'But...' a voice echoed in her mind, 'you never said they couldn't tell others you knew...'

"Let me handle this!" said Orimoto Izumi, whom was now standing behind Ryou, hands on her hips, "Guys are crap at the sort of thing anyway." she said matter-of-factly.

Ruki snorted, but couldn't help agree.

"Err... Thanks, Izumi-chan." Ryou said, scratching his head.

"Anytime! Now, go away, me and Ruki-chan have got some serious talking to do!"

'Who is she; my mother?' Ruki thought, annoyed, but then she realised; Izumi was acting very different. Not all quiet, saying what people wanted her to say, but being very open about her feelings.

As Ryou turned to walk away, he murmured to her, "Glad to see you're being normal!"

Izumi looked at him, "Thanks! Glad somebody noticed!" and made a thumbs up.

Ryou nodded and grinned. "Enjoy your girl talk!" and he went back into A5.

Ruki glared after him and then at Izumi, "_What_ is it?" she demanded.

Izumi grinned, "Well... I was thinking, about what you said all that time ago. Well... I will keep my "real self" to myself, unless I'm around people who don't mind or care - like you! And Ryou-kun. And... Takuya-kun, Kouji-kun, Tomoki-kun and Junpei-kun... Maybe?" She laughed, and then continued, "And maybe you should do the same. I mean, has anyone noticed yet? You're not yourself, ne? I mean, maybe that little outburst of pride back there is more like you, who knows? Well, I can tell, therefore... I must be a real friend! Yay! Ruki-chan!"

Ruki stared at her, was this really that Izumi she met the other day? "...Eh?" was all she could say.

Izumi stretched her arms into the air, "Well, I can be myself around you! But I can't so much around others, especially since..." she looked at the floor sadly.

Ruki said nothing, and waited awhile.

After that while, Izumi demanded huffily, "Well? Aren't you gonna ask?"

Ruki felt taken aback, and then shrugged, "Why do I need to? My life doesn't depend on it!"

Izumi glared, then giggled, "You sure are different to any "friend" I've ever had, Ruki-chan!"

'There's that annoying informality again! What is _with_ this school? They don't know me!' was all Ruki could think.

Izumi giggled again, "Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say, or ask, is that you stay at the party! I think everyone who helped could become those friends who truly understand you, y'know?"

Ruki shrugged. She wasn't feeling so angry anymore. Well, at the rest of them. Ryou on the other hand... Her stomach rumbled, "Fine! But I'm only going 'cos the food looks good, and I'm hungry, okay?"

"Of course you are!" said Izumi slyly, and turned to go back. She looked over her shoulder and said, "Oh, Ruki-chan, consider me one of those people who understand you, okay? A friend, okay? See you in a minute!" and she walked back in.

Ruki wasn't sure how to react, but her rumbling stomach made her go back in.

As the party passed, (Ruki spent most of it at the food table) various people she'd met before talked to her. She wasn't sure of the last time she'd talked to this many people. She wasn't sure of the last time she'd actually had fun. She then quickly reminded herself that she wasn't having fun at all. She was there for the food.

Eventually Miyako came over to her, "Well, birthday girl! How's the grub?" Ruki remembered Miyako had said she'd bring food from her family's convenience store.

"It's pretty good. I'm guessing you brought it?" Ruki said, not thinking.

Miyako blinked, "Y-Yeah... I knew you'd found out about the party but didn't think you'd know details unless you overheard our meetings... Oh." She'd caught on, and laughed, "Good one, Ruki-chan! Sneaky!"

Ruki raised an eyebrow, maybe Miyako wasn't that bad, "I don't know what you're talking about." she said, innocently. She then looked at the food on the tables, "Ya know... You people didn't need to do this..."

"Well, people wanted to!"

"But why for me?" Ruki asked quietly, refusing to look at Miyako.

Miyako folded her arms, "Honestly? I don't think it was all about you. I reckon you had about 20% to do with the reason. I think a lot of people just wanted to throw a surprise party! And you're so reluctant to have a party at all, how could we not have a surprise party? It's a dream situation!" Her eyes were sparkling now, "And it's gone great! We actually staged a kidnapping and got you over here...!"

Ruki was so taken aback by this, she looked at Miyako, "That's... the most honest thing anyone has said to me for awhile..." She told Miyako, and laughed.

Just for a second.

She realised she'd just laughed, as did several people close by. Juri, Ryou, Takato and Jenrya, who had all been talking nearby, stopped and looked over. Then they looked back at each other, speechless.

Ruki coughed, trying to hide her embarrassment, "Y-Yeah..."

Juri giggled, and Miyako, also stunned, laughed as well. Ryou looked over at Ruki again and smiled. Not that she saw him. He knew if she had seen he'd only be glared at.

"W-What?" Ruki asked defiantly.

Miyako gave her another sly look, "Never mind~!"

Juri walked over to them, "Ruki-chan! How about getting some cake now?" And without waiting for Ruki's response, she linked arms with her and half-dragged her to the cake table. They lit some candles and sang happy birthday.

"Make a wish!" Hikari called.

"I'm not a child y'know!"

Ryou walked up beside her, "But surely you have a wish?"

Everyone started echoing things like "Yeah!" and "Oh please Ruki-san/chan!"

Ruki gave them all a sweeping glare, "Fine! B-But I'm only doing it to stop you all from bugging me...!" she turned, 'I'm not gonna make a wish!' she told herself.

But as she blew out the candles, a sentence, a wish did pass in her mind. But it was so quick, she didn't notice it.

Everyone applauded, and then the cutting and eating of the cake commenced. Near the end of lunch, Jenrya scratched his head and said loudly, "Guys... We oughta clean this up, or we could get in trouble..." Everyone else looked toward him and nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah..."

Eventually the bell rang. The party broke up as they headed to their classes. Everyone waved to Ruki as they left though.

When the last lesson ended, and Ruki left the school grounds, she felt lighter. Happier. Her problems had all seemed to have left her temporarily.

She took her old route that day, as she had a ton of homework, and was gonna get into trouble fairly soon, as she had missed a few deadlines.

Ryou walked beside her, and said quietly, "Thanks for coming to the party."

Ruki snorted, "Didn't have much of a choice now, did I? Considering you guys _dragged_ me there..."

"I'm sorry, Ruuki! I wasn't sure-!" Ruki cuffed him over the head, but not hard.

"I don't care! At least I filled my empty stomach!"

"Well, I really am glad. I mean, I've never seen those guys pitch in, and work so hard. They really do wanna be friends with you Ruki, maybe there's something that binds us all? Heh!" Ruki didn't bother looking at him. "Heyy, listen to me! Haha! But I really do think they wanna be friends, even if they're all nuts."

"And you're not?"

Ryou laughed, "Nope! I'm the sanest of them all!"

"Of course you are!" Ruki humoured him,

"Why thank you, Hime!"

Ruki rolled her eyes. "...But ya know, I don't think they do desperately want to be my friend or anything. That's stupid. Miyako-san said it herself - they just wanted an excuse to throw a party."

Ryou didn't deny this, "...Does that upset you?"

Ruki shook her head, "Actually, I was kinda happy she was so honest."

"...Is that why you laughed?"

Ruki decided not to answer that.

When they got to their usual fork in the road, she clapped her hand to her mouth.

"What's wrong?" Ryou asked immediately,

"I forgot to speak with Tomoki-kun!"

"What about?"

"None of your business! Dammit. I guess I'll have to do it tomorrow..."

"Well, I could make sure you remember!" he said cheerfully,

"Hmph. I can remember myself!"

"Fine, but I'll still make sure. Anyway, I better go, I've got to get to my job; I'm behind payment of the rent and-!" he then put his hand over his mouth, "Forget that!" he said quickly.

He made to walk away but Ruki had grabbed his arm, _"Rent?"_ she asked, bewildered,

"It's complicated, um... It's not what it sounds like though!" he said, without looking at her, "Anyway, I've really gotta go, see ya Ruuki!" and he pulled his arm from her grip, and ran off.

Ruki stared after him, "Ryou...! Now I think I about I know nothing about him..." she shook her head. "Not like I really _care_! ...But that sure did sound weird... _Rent_?"

Ryou was starting to become more of an enigma to Ruki now. He wasn't as shallow with just a few oddities about him to her anymore. She was confused more than anything.

She threw her hands in the air and let them drop by her side. "Ah! He's such a pain! Dammit! I've got homework anyway!" And she headed home. Despite all that, she still felt a little cheerful.

/

~REVISED: I made massive dialogue changes here XD Added quite a lot actually o: And the usual grammar/spelling checks. Wow, I've edited 2 chapters in one day. I'm quite proud of myself, actually. 8D Until next time, enjoy~


	9. The sixteenth day

~Revised: Notes at the end~

Ruki woke up, feeling a little happier than she normally did when she awoke. The aftermath of her party still lingered.

'You feel _happy_ with _those_ morons?' snarled a passing thought.

She flinched, despite herself, 'No, I don't...!' she stopped her thoughts. She wasn't sure where she was going with them.

She got ready for the day, and as she walked downstairs, she noticed an old picture on the wall from when she was young. The corner of her mouth curled slightly. Her, her mother and her dad.

Ruki decided she wouldn't mind seeing that photo smashed. She ignored this idea and carried on downstairs. When she had finished breakfast, she walked out the door, and began walking to school. She thought about Ryou, and how he'd been acting strange.

As she walked past where they normally met ('Well, we he normally runs over to me.' Ruki thought indignantly.), she noticed he wasn't there. Now, Ruki didn't think walking with a hyper, sometimes mysterious, half-stalker was normal, but, she supposed, his morning antics were amusing - it was better than walking with her thoughts. She wondered if he was okay. Then she shook herself, she didn't care, it was just curiosity.

When she arrived at school, she met up with Kouji almost immediately. He stared at her as she walked past.

It annoyed her to the point where she whipped around, "Whats your problem _now_?"

Kouji looked up, "You think too highly of yourself, y'know?" he said, bored, "Not everyone is looking at you, as much as you like to think of it that way."

_"What!_ Hey, if you were actually doing something aside from looking like a depressed delinquent, I wouldn't think anything of you!"

He rolled his eyes, which infuriated Ruki all the more. Then she remembered something, and calmed herself down, "Heh, "Hime at 3'o'clock"? Huh? Jeez, never thought I'd hear _you_ say that!"

He snorted at her, annoyance flashed in his eyes.

The bell rang, and Ruki walked away, satisfied.

When she arrived at class, and got out her things, and put them on her desk. She looked up, expecting to see Saki-sensei - but she didn't.

Instead, stood a woman, smiling at them all. She had blonde hair, and wore a knee-length red dress, which had white t-shirt sleeves. She had rather pretty blue eyes.

"Yep! OK, see you later! Hm-hm! Shh! I'll tell you later!" echoed a voice from the hallway. It was Juri.

She walked into the classroom and immediately spotted Ruki. "Hey Ruki-chan! So, what did you think of yesterday's party?"

Ruki shrugged, "It was okay, I guess..." she mumbled.

Juri giggled, "Hm-hm! You did! Didn't you~? Hehe, I did too! Infact, me and Takato-ku-!" as she babbled, she looked over, obviously checking that Saki-sensei wasnt glaring at her from across the room, but instead came into contact with those blue eyes.

She stopped abruptly, and walked over to her seat, got out her things, and stared at her desk, her eyes cold. Ruki blinked and looked around at Juri, then looked to the new teacher. The new teacher was looking at the floor, sadly. Ruki raised an eyebrow.

Then, lifting her head and looking around, the new teacher clapped her hands, making everyone jump, and said loudly, "Well hello everyone! Im Katou Seiko! I'll be your teacher until Saki-san gets better. I hope we'll get along!" she said, and smiled and bowed.

A few of the class broke out with some "Pleased to meet you, sensei!" and "Yes, sensei!" She then started learning everyone's names.

When she reached Juri, instead of asking for an introduction, "Oh Juri-chan! I didn't see you this morning, so I never asked, how are you today?" she smiled genuinely.

Juri said nothing, and continued to stare coldly at her desk. She tugged a little at her sock puppet.

Everyone started whispering things like, "Huh?" and "They have the same family names!" and such.

Katou-sensei looked to the floor, her smile faded. She brought it back quickly but it was a clear cover-up.

She finished up learning people's names, and moved on with the lesson.

When the bell rang, signalling break, Ruki walked quickly out. She stared at the floor, 'What was up with Juri?' she asked herself.

Wrapped up in her own thoughts so much, she wasn't looking where she was going, consequentely making her walk into Ryou! She took a step back.

"Ouch! Hey, pumpkin! How's it going?" he said, teasingly.

Ruki rolled her eyes, despite the many questions forming in her head. Instead she said, ""Pumpkin"? What the...? Argh! Whatever, pretty boy. Where were you?"

Ryou put his hand to his head dramtically, and said mock-upsetly, "Ohh... Hime doesn't want to know how I've been... "

Ruki rolled her eyes again, "Whatever, pretty boy."

Ryou stared into the classroom intently, "Aw no... I better come back later... " he said quietly.

Ruki looked round. Inside the classroom stood Juri and Katou-sensei. Juri's normally sweet-looking face was looking somewhat outraged. Katou-sensei stood there looking sadly at the floor. Ruki turned back to Ryou, her face questioning. Ryou grabbed her hand, and pulled her round the corner, so they couldn't be seen. Then, they both poked their heads round the corner, to observe the scene within,

Juri stood before Katou-sensei, staring angrily at her. Katou-sensei looked at the ground, avoiding her gaze sadly.

"What are you doing here?" Juri asked icily.

Katou-sensei answered without looking at her, "I... I've been trying to get a job, to support your father. He hasn't been getting enough money lately, ever since your..." she trailed off.

Juri seemed to catch on, as she replied, "Since... mum... Why here? Can't you get a job elsewhere?"

Katou-sensei jerked her head back, as if Juri had slapped her, "I can't... I have a contract... I'm staying here until Saki-san can come back..."

Juri turned (Ryou and Ruki pulled their heads back round the corner) and stalked out. She went past Ruki, Ryou and the third person, without noticing them.

Ruki felt extremely confused, and looked to Ryou, who also seemed a bit puzzled. What Ruki didnt realise was that she was still holding Ryou's hand.

The third person, whom was standing behind them broke the silence, "I think...I understand..."

Ryou and Ruki whipped round, "Kouji?" Ruki hissed, "What are you doing here?"

Kouji shrugged, "I saw you and Ryou-san watching something, so I came to see what it was."

He looked to where Juri had ran, "I heard everything." Ruki gave him an odd stare.

Before she could ask, she heard a voice echo from down the corridor, "Kouji-kun? Ruki-chan? Ryou-kun?" It was Izumi. She walked over to them, "Was that Juri-chan? Wow! Okay, I don't know her that well but that's still kinda... sad... Wonder what's going on. Maybe problems at home? Ah, whatever." she glanced at Kouji, went a little red, put her hand over mouth, and "corrected" herself. "I-I mean, I hope she's okay! M-Maybe we can help?"

Kouji turned his head away from her, "...What's with the sudden change in perspective?" he asked quietly. Izumi's eyes widened, as Kouji continued, "I don't know why you're doing that around me... You don't need to..." He walked away.

Izumi stared after him. Ryou and Ruki glanced at each other. Ruki felt confused. Ryou seemed a mix of confusion and sadness - he obviously had some clue.

Before Ruki could ask, the bell rang, and, obviously wanting to break the silence more, Ryou laughed a little, "Well, at least we dont have to walk!"

Izumi glanced at them and laughed awkwardly, "K-Kouji-kun is always like that... Eheh, anywayz, I guess I'll head to my class, laters, you two."

Ruki, was about to nudge Ryo in the ribs, when she realised she was gripping his hand. She wrenched her hand away, not that Ryou tried to stop her.

Ryou scratched the back of his head, "Ah. Eheh, sorry, Ruuki!"

Ruki felt annoyed with both herself and Ryou. She wasn't going to talk about it with him though "Hmph. We'd better go to class." They both walked to the classroom, and sat in their seats, taking out their books.

Katou-sensei seemed not to have noticed their arrival.

They sat there in awkward silence, until Ryou said quietly, "...Sorry."

Ruki looked over at him, "Huh?"

Ryou grinned, "I'm waiting for a tumbleweed in this silence!"

Ruki gave him an odd look, then shook her head, and looked at her desk, as the rest of the class began filing in.

The lesson began after Katou-sensei's initial jump at the loud noise the students started generating without her supervision, the loudest noise of which came from Ryou's fangirls, desperate to know where he had been that morning.

As Katou-sensei took the register, when she called out Juri's name, it was apparent she wasn't there.

Everyone looked round, wondering where she could be. Ruki felt a little worried. She dismissed it as curiosity. She stared at the open classroom door. Opposite was the corridor Juri had run down.

She stood up, "Sensei! Can I go to the bathroom?"

Katou-sensei, who was helping a student, looked up, a sort of spacey look on her face, "Huh? Oh, of course.."

Ruki quickly walked out. She walked down the corridor, which Juri had run down. As she walked she thought about the scene she'd witnessed earlier. She'd never seen Juri like that, and she found it odd. Juri didnt seem the type to get so angry, but, Ruki thought with a shake of her head, I dont know her after all. As she walked, she past the toilets. She didn't see the point, but it was worth a shot, Juri might go sob in one of the cubicles for all she knew.

Just before entering, she heard a quiet voice ask, "Umm... Makino-san? If she is in there well..."

Ruki turned. It was Takato, "What?" she asked sharply.

Takato looked up, "Uh... I'm not sure. But I'm really worried y'know? I mean... Promise you wont tell?" Ruki threw him an impatient look. Takato looked a little uneasy, but continued, "Well... By any chance did Katou-san say that we met up on a weekend a while back?" Ruki nodded slowly, unsure of what he was getting at. "Well... We were laughing, and I forgot what I said.." he was blushing majorly at this point, and Ruki was certain he knew damn well what he'd said, "...and she said to me "...No. I'm a terrible person." and when I said she wasn't and asked what she was talking about, she changed the subject! I didn't ask her about it again... I-I didn't want to upset her but..." he looked at the floor, "...she looked so sad as she said it. And now this argument-"

"How did you know about that?"

"I-I was standing in the classroom next door, and overheard it."

"Hmph, wouldn't you think she's a "terrible person" after an arguement like that?"

Takato paused then asked, "Would you Makino-san?"

"I..." Ruki wasn't sure how to reply.

"I never would. Katou-san would never act that way without a good reason!" he said, a little more determinedly.

Ruki glanced at the toilet's door and then back to Takato, "Hmm... I don't know any of you well. But you seem to know Juri-san well. So I'll take your word for it. Heh." she said, then lowering her voice, "You sure do like her, huh?"

Takato rubbed the back of his head, looking away, blushing furiously, "Well...maybe a little.."

Ruki rolled her eyes, but stopped dead as Takato said, "What about you and Ryou-san?"

Ruki felt so annoyed, "Why do people always assume that?" she snapped at him, and curtly walked into the girls toilets.

She heard some very quiet sobs, so quiet, she thought she'd imagined them for a split second. She walked over to the cubicle the sobbing noises were coming from. She wasn't sure what to do. She'd never been in a situation like this before.

So, she leant her back against the door of the cubicle quietly and said the only thing she could think of, "Y'know... Sitting there crying isn't gonna do anything." She heard the sobs subside immediately, to be replaced by a quiet, quick squeak. Ruki felt the door open slightly, and she moved away.

Juri poked her head round, "R-Ruki-chan...? What're you doing here...?"

Ruki shrugged, "Coming to check on you. I saw your fight with Katou-sensei. What _was_ that all about?"

Juri gaped, then closed her mouth, still looking a bit teary-eyed.

"I'm a horrible person!" she said, her voice getting a little high pitched.

Ruki felt a little surprised at this, but then remembered what Takato had said.

Not sure how to console Juri, she said quietly, "Y'know, no one thinks of you like that. Even those who heard your fight."

Juri, who had begun sobbing again, stopped, peering at Ruki through her tears, "W-wha...?"

Ruki sighed, "You heard me. I can think of a particular someone who thinks the world of you." 'I'll never forgive myself for saying something so... gross.' She added to herself.

Juri, who wasn't sure what Ruki was getting at, laughed anyway. She wiped away her tears, "Thanks."

"Huh? Why?"

"Just for being here. And trying to cheer me up."

'I dont know about that..' Ruki thought. She felt a little embarrassed "I-I didn't do much y'know. And..." she gestured to the entrance, "There's someone out there who'd do a better job of cheering up than me."

Juri looked puzzled, "Eh?"

Ruki began to walk to the entrance, "Take a minute to calm down then go out there." and she left.

As she walked past Takato, she saw he opened his mouth, about to ask her something, but she shook her head at him and carried on walking.

As she walked back to the classroom, she heard their voices echo down the corridor, "Huh? T-Takato-kun! What is it?"

"Ah! Katou-san! Um... A-Are you ok..?" and Ruki heard no more, as she had entered the classroom.

As she did, Ryou walked over to her, "So, was she okay...?"

"That's a pretty dumb question." Ruki replied.

Ryou laughed, "Yeah, you're right. Well, did she explain what's wrong?"

"If you're so interested, why not go spy on the oblivious ones back there?"

Ryou looked a little confused, then caught on, "Ohhh, Takato huh?" Ruki nodded. "It's just a shame Juri-chan doesn't return his feelings..."

Ruki blinked, "She doesn't...?" Then realised she was getting even more involved and wanted nothing to do with this whole romance thing anymore.

She almost smirked at Ryou, "Since when were you such a romantic?"

Ryou grinned, "Since I met you, my dearest Hime..."

Ruki punched him lightly on the shoulder, "Yeah, yeah, Creepy Pretty Boy." And went back to her desk.

Ryou was having a hard time working out what'd just happened. It was like Ruki was being friendly or something! He laughed quielty to himself.

When lunch finally started, she decided to go to the computer room. Miyako was the only one there, though, suprisingly, she looked extremely happy.

She noticed Ruki, and said dazedly, "Hi Ruki-chan..."

"Uh... Hi."

"...I just can't contain it anymore! (To which Ruki thought "...What?") I'm going to be watching Ken-kun at his soccer match~!"

"Soccer huh...? So there's soccer here?"

"Duh! And Ken-kun plays on the team! He's so awesome~!"

Just then, Koushiro entered, "Hey guys! What's up?"

"Koushiro-senpai! Ken-kun's got a match! I'm gonna be watching~!" "That's great Miyako-chan! Hm, I might go watch as well."

Miyako's sense of happiness faded just a bit, "Oh great..." then she perked up again, "He's so amazing at soccer! And in class, he's a genius! Kya~! Ken-kun~!" Ruki rolled her eyes. So when Ken wasn't around Miyako became a swooning fangirl? 'At least she's not embarrassingly oblivious to her feelings...'

Koushirou laughed, "Honestly, Miyako-kun, this time last year you were saying you hated him."

Miyako narrowed her eyes, "That was his fault! He was so... " She shuddered, "But now he's so...!" Her eyes sparkled. Ruki blinked in confusion. Ken had been so different Miyako had _hated_ him? And now she was his fangirl? Talk about a change of heart.

"When is it?" Ruki asked. She wasn't going to ask for details on their past. There was no point.

"Huh? Oh... Uh... I forgot... Uh.."

"It's on the 21st of June." Koushiro said helpfully,

"How did you know when it was?" Miyako asked.

Koushiro turned and nodded his head to a poster on the wall behind him, "I just noticed it." He said with an air of humour in his voice. After some more discussion, it was decided that Koushiro, Miyako and Ruki would all meet up after school and walk to the soccer field together. (Much to Ruki's reluctance, and Miyako, although she was enthusiastic, a part of her seemed to be holding back a little.)

The end of lunch came, and they went back to class. It felt to Ruki as if the party and such had never happened. No one really mentioned it or anything. 'So, what, weird eccentric things like surprise party's are completely normal here...?'

As Ruki sat in her seat, she heard an odd high-pitched voice say, "Urameshiya~!" (I believe it's the japanese equivalent of "Boo!" But don't take my word for it.)

She looked up, "Juri-san..?" It was Juri. Only she was speaking through her puppet. Why did she do that...?

"Hey! Thanks for earlier! Um... I'm really sorry about it earlier." She spoke normally now.

Ruki shook her head, "I-It was nothing. It was just annoying, you sulking in the bathroom."

"...Haha, thanks, Ruki-chan." Takato walked in. Juri looked up. Ruki could see the blush marks appear slightly on his face as their eyes met. 'Juri really doesn't feel the same way about him? But they act so...' Now Ruki thought of it, Juri didn't really blush or seem to get particulary self-concious around Takato, like he did. Maybe that's just how she was around crushes? But, aside from Takato's blushing and that "date" that had happened (During which, she was pretty sure, showed Takato hadn't confessed.), Ruki wasn't too sure if Juri really did return Takato's feelings or not.

Juri walked over to him, "Hey Takato-kun..." _Now_ she was looking a little embarrassed. Only a little, "Eheh... Thanks for earlier!"

Takato had massive blush lines across his face now, "Uh... No problem..." And again, Ruki wasn't sure. 'Ugh, the sooner this lesson ends, the better.' Ruki thought, averting her eyes from the pair.

As Juri turned back to her desk, she gave Katou-sensei a blank look and went to her seat. Takato was about to take his, when Ryou entered the room and stopped him. He whispered something to Takato, Takato whispered something back, and shook his head. Ruki found it weird, and decided to ask Ryou after school. As Takato took his seat, Ryou turned to find Ruki staring at him. He grinned and waved. Ruki immeditely turned her head away from him to glare at the board.

The class settled down, and the lesson began.

When it finally ended, Ruki stopped Ryou just before he left the classroom, "Hey, what did you say to Takato-san?"

"Huh? Oh, I asked if Juri-chan had told him why she was so upset and such."

'Idiot!' Ruki thought to herself, 'Juri-san would have had reason, why didn't you ask her?' "Okay then. See ya."

Ruki was just about to leave, when Ryou took her arm, "Aren't we walking back?"

"You mean I am walking back, and you are walking back, not _we_. Ive got somewhere to be anyway."

"Aww Hime!"

"Go away, Ryou." and she wrenched her arm from his grip, desperate not to show him her face. She could've sworn she felt her face heat up very slightly. She walked away from him.

She went to the usual place. The "secluded area". Kouji was there. As she pushed the branches out of the way and entered, he looked at her, from his usual spot; leaning against the tree. He leant his head back, his eyes closed.

'Since he's here, I might as well ask him.' "What was all that earlier? With Juri-san's fight, and Izumi-san? I hear about how she used to be different, or something." Why was she asking _Kouji_ of all people?

"Heh, who knows? Or cares?" He said the last part quieter.

Ruki shrugged, "No one, but I want to know. And you probaly know."

Kouji stood up a little straighter, "Izumi-chan... has changed. And I think I know why. She was never accepted by many people as she was. She's been more self-contained recently." He smiled a little now, "Which is weird, she never used to care. So when I asked her why... She said people thought she thought she was better than them."

"And...?" Ruki asked impatiently, before she could remind herself she didn't care.

"...She said she'd lose all the friends she's got; Takuya, Junpei-san, Tomoki-kun and myself. When I told her that's not true, she ignored me, and said it would happen sometime. Heh, I liked Izumi-chan. She could be a little... "mean"? Direct. Honest, I guess. Y'know 'speak her mind'-ish but that was her. Recently, she's been acting a lot... nicer, milder. Like she _really wants_ to please people."

Ruki wasn't sure what to say, and she didn't get a chance to say anything, because he'd already got up headed toward the entrance, saying, "But it dosen't matter anymore." pausing to look to the side, then shook his head and left.

It was already getting dark. Ruki decided to head back. She rummaged through her bag, and found her headphones, she'd remembered to pack for once. She put them in, turned her mp3 player on and continued walking.

As she walked, she felt a hand on her shoulder, 'Oh what does he want?' Ruki thought, turning, and expecting to see Ryou, but she didn't. It was a guy wearing a black ballaclava, "Gimme whatever valuables ya got, 'lil girl, and you'll be fine." he said menacingly.

Ruki's eyes widened, as she reacted with an elbow-in-the-stomach, and began running, but not withouht being stopped by someone else,

"Ok, you're gonna get it now, 'lil missy!" For the first time in years, Ruki felt truly frightened. She lashed out, trying to get the other two guys who had just appeared out of the way. She successfully kicked one of them in the shin, causing the guy to fall back a second. Ruki then punched him in the head, but a guy from behind grabbed her, keeping her still whilst grabbing her bag and taking out her mp3 player.

Then, a voice in the distance yelled, "RUKII!" It was Ryou. She heard his feet pounding on the ground, getting closer. The muggers were distracted, and Ruki took this opportunity to kick her foot back, kicking the guy who'd restrained her in the groin. The guy let go immediately, yelping. Another guy, the one she'd hit earlier, grabbed her, and the last one helped restrain her, but then stopped and turned as he heard one of his accomplices make a weird noise, then a sigh as he fell unconcious.

Ryou was standing over him. Ruki didn't have time to wonder how he'd accomplished that. He looked at the other two, "Let go of her." he said, fierce determination in his voice.

The two guys laughed, "Oh, yer boyfriend now, is it? Look, I'm shaking!" One said, laughing.

"Relationships aren't exactly of importance, right now anywayz; you let go of her - else you'll regret it."

They were laughing harder now, and Ryou took this opportunity to run at the guy - with a thick, long stick! He walloped the guy, who was helping restrain Ruki, round the head with it, almost knocking him out.

Ruki took this chance to writhe out of the other guy's grip, and punch him in the nose. As she did, she exclaimed, "Pretty boy! What the hell are you doing here?"

Ryou was defending himself with the stick against the first guy, as he said, "Pumpkin, now is really not the time!"

Ruki dodged the second guy's lunge for her, and kicked him in the side as she yelled, "Don't call me that! And anyway, I dont need _your_ help!"

Ryou had now dodged the first guy, so he was behind him, and walloped him in the back of the legs with the stick, yelling, "Ruuki! We can argue later: call the police!"

The second guy, who was just getting up, then had a blow to the head from Ruki's fist, as she yelled back, "I was gonna do that! I dont need _you_ to tell me!" She then backed up a lot, until she was close to Ryou and murmered, "That unconcious guy has my bag, so I need some time to get it - can you do that?"

Despite the situation, Ryou's trademark grin spread across his face, "Leave it to me!" He then started waving the stick forcefully, left and right.

As he did so, Ruki ran over to the unconcious guy, grabbed her bag from his still hand and rummaged through it, looking for her phone. She found it, and dialed the police quickly. As she did so, one of the thugs noticed and yelled, "She's callin' someone! Make a break fer it!"

"Uh-uh!" Ryou said, lunging forward, tripping both of them up with the stick. He turned to Ruki, "Done it?"

"Yeah." It was by this time, Ruki realised she was shaking badly. She couldn't believe what'd just happened.

Ryou walked over to the two thugs and crouched between them, holding his stick threatningly saying, "Hey, ya bastards, next time you try this; don't. 'Cos it'll result in more pain." Ruki considered wondering how Ryou had dealt with the situation so well, but instead turned to check on the one who had gotten her bag. He was still lying there, out cold.

After a few minutes, the police turned up.

As they cuffed the muggers, Ryou walked over to Ruki, "Hey, you okay? Jeez, that scared me. I'm shaking, y'know? And... Hey, you are too!"

"And?" Ruki demanded,

"Uh..." Ryou wasn't sure what to do or say. Well, he knew what he _could_ do, but he knew she'd murder him. But... Was that a tear he saw at the corner of her eye? Ruki seemed to realise too, because she'd wiped it away - just as Ryou had put his arms around her. Ruki went rigid and shoved him away "Pretty boy...!"

"Sorry! Just... Ah, never mind!" Ruki was feeling more pissed off with him now. The police began asking them both questions at this point, and then took them to the station.

Suddenly, everything felt like some cheesy cop show drama. She hated thinking she'd been scared. Why her, anyway? She only had an mp3 player and a phone, nothing majorly pricey! Still. It didn't matter; Ruki promised herself she wouldn't get that frightened or panicky over such a situation ever again. 'I hope not...'

As she stared out the police car window, she realised she couldn't wait to get back home, crawl under her duvet and sleep. She must've been extremely dazed; she didn't even notice that Ryou had held her hand all the way.

'Ryou is an odd guy. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He seems... to be knowledgeable about everything and everyone. He's all enigmatic and yet completely stupid. But there's so much people don't know about him... As much as I hate to ask it, as cliche as it seems... Who is he?'

~Revised: Okay, basic grammar, dialoge change etc. You name it, I've done it 8D Enjoy people! Also, late happy christmas/new year! ^^ ~


	10. The seventeenth day

~Revised: Notes at the end~

[OLD NOTE:] After looking at "Ryo"'s name in kana, I found his romanised name is "Ryou" (Im so annoyed with myself) So from here on out "Ryo" is "Ryou". [Note: I've gone ahead and fixed this in previous chapters anyway so XD]

Ruki woke up and blearily looked around. She was beyond tired, and since her mum wasn't back yet, she decided she could stay home. She wasn't in the mood to face anyone after yesterday, besides, she hadn't slept since 4:00am. It wasn't that she hadn't been able to sleep, but the police had kept her and Ryou there 'till 2:00am, and when she got back, she was starving. She hadn't been terribly shaky when she got back. She felt somewhat numb. She thought back to yesterday night...

Ruki got out the police car, shivering. For spring, it was oddly cold. Ryou got out the other side, and walked round to her,

"Well... Let's head back."

"Uh... you go _that_ way, remember?" Ruki answered, pointing in the direction of his place.

"Yeah, but I'm not gonna let Hime go home by herself at 2:00am, it's not natural!" Ryou replied, grinning a little, but Ruki could tell he was serious.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm fine! I don't need you to "guard" me."

"I know you can kick ass pretty well yourself, but I'm still worried."

"Hmph, not like you'd be any safer."

"Maybe not, but it's better than walking back alone."

"Yeah... which is what you'll be doing when you head home, which will take longer!" Ruki was getting impatient now. She felt like he was treating her like some damsel-in-distress!

"It's not a matter of pride; it's a matter of not getting attacked again!" Ryou argued back.

"I'll be fine, I've walked back in the dark by myself before! Stop treating me like some petty girl!"

Ryou paused, unsure of how to respond, and then said, "You're the strongest girl I've ever met, but its 2:00am! And-!"

The policeman in the car, made it clear he was still here, "Hey! Are you kids gonna go home or what?"

Ryou and Ruki responded quickly, "Yes!" And Ruki quickly walked in the direction of her house. Ryou walked by her side. Ruki stopped, "Go home Ryou."

"Not until I know you're home! I owe you that-!" He stopped himself, and then said, "I need to make sure you're OK!"

Ruki turned to him, her violet gaze boring into his own sapphire gaze, "I'm fine. It takes two minutes to get back! Look, Ryou! I... I just need to be alone, anyway."

Ryou blinked, and then looked away. "...Ok. Eheh, your house _is_ only two minutes away. ... I was overreacting a little; I guess I'm sorry..." This sudden apologetic tone surprised Ruki. She knew she preferred it when Ryou was being more serious, but this was...

He interrupted her thoughts with his annoying cheerful tone, despite the situation. "...Well, whatever makes you happy, Hime~!"

Ruki shook her head. Him? Serious? Seriously? Yeah, sure.

"G'night, Pretty boy."

Ruki got back into bed. She closed her eyes, and drifted off.

_"Friends..."_

_"Huh?"_

_"People who understand you. Or at the very least, accept you."_

_"Yeah, like I have any of those!"_

_"..Do you really believe that?"_

_"Well, yeah! I mean..."_

_"Really?"_

_"Uh...!"_

Ruki was awoken by loud knocking. She got up slowly, and went downstairs, forgetting she was still in her pajamas. She opened the door, and there stood Juri, Takato, Jenrya, Miyako, Tomoki, Ken, Hikari, Daisuke, Izumi, Hirokazu and Kenta. Ruki couldn't believe it. Had she slept all day or something? Was it after school hours already? ...Oh, and the appearance of her classmates was pretty surprising too.

"You guys... What're you doing here?"

"Eh? We're here to see if you're all right, Ruki-chan!" Juri said, a little surprised that Ruki didn't immediately grasp that.

"Yeah." Miyako added, "So.."

"Are you OK?" Juri and Miyako said simultaneously. Ruki wasn't sure how to react. Surely, Ryou would've told them what happened, unless he didn't go. As she thought of Ryou, she noticed he wasn't with them.

"Was Ryou in today? ...And did he blab about last night?" '...and boast about "saving me", probaly.' Ruki thought.

"Yeah, he was. He seemed kinda... proud about fighting, it was funny." Hikari said, giggling, "That's Ryou-san for you. But he was worried about you."

Daisuke turned to Hikari, "You... like this guy...?" he asked, sounding a little shocked.

'Can that boy get any more paranoid?' Ruki felt she pitied Hikari juuust a bit.

Hikari rolled her eyes, then said to Ruki, "But you two _were_ pretty brave."

Ruki shrugged, "We didn't have much of a choice."

Now it occurred to Ruki, why hadn't she gone in today? Ryou had gone in after such an ordeal like he wasn't affected, but she'd stayed at home... Her affliction would've been obvious; her _weakness _would've been obvious, and that was just something she couldn't stand...

Jenrya then snapped his fingers, bringing her out of her spiralling thoughts. "Oh, Ryou asked us to give you something!"

Takato reacted, "Oh yeah! Uh... Where did I put it..."

Juri brought out a small box from her pocket, "You gave it to me, remember? You said you'd probably forget it." she said sweetly, smiling at him.

Takato rubbed the back of his head, blushing, "Oh yeah... Eheh, thanks!"

Juri handed Ruki the box. Ruki opened it, puzzled. Inside was a chocolate that was in the shape of the kanji for "Hime". Ruki stared, a little dumbfounded. Everyone crowded round to look. Takato, Juri, Jenrya, Miyako, Hikari and Daisuke all stifled laughter, Izumi giggled, but Hirokazu and Kenta burst out laughing. Tomoki only looked confused. Ruki felt not only embarrassed, but very annoyed,

"Oh, shut up!" She told them heatedly.

The two abruptly stopped, then bowed simultaneously, "As you wish... Hime..." They murmured, looking rather smug.

Ruki glared at them furiously, and hissed, "You two..."

They immediately jumped back. Everyone giggled a little. Ruki shook her head, went back inside her house, put the box on the kitchen table, then went back to the door.

"Anything else?" She asked, a little warily. They all looked at each other, a bit taken aback.

Miyako folded her arms, "See, Ruki? You're doing it again. Why can't we come in?"

Ruki wasn't sure how to respond. 'Maybe because I'm still feeling tired and now that that _idiot _has made a complete laughing stock of me, I'd like to be left alone?' It was a funny feeling. Despite that, Ruki felt she kinda liked Miyako. Again with the honesty. Ruki may not have really cared for the types who always "speak their mind" but she hadn't met many who actually did, so.

"Ruki-chan needs her rest, Miyako-chan! Umm... Get well soon? Heh..." Juri piped up.

'...Nice save, Juri-chan. I'm impressed.'

Ruki shook her head, "I-I'm fine! I'll be back tomorrow!"

"Promise?"

"Yes!" Ruki said exasperatedly. Takato smiled, and Jenrya laughed a little.

"OK! It's a promise between friends then!" Juri said cheerfully, "See you tomorrow!" They all turned away, and walked back home, all talking, laughing etc.

Ruki stared, "Friends..." She whispered to herself, 'Them? Seriously? I...' She thought, then another thought interrupted: 'Like hell! And anyway, even if I wanted to be friends with them, mums' back in a few days, and she'll have probably found somewhere new to move, there's no point!' Despite what her mother had told her all that time ago about staying, she had said it once before and then, well. Here they were. Then a completely unrelated thought struck.

"Tomoki-kun!" She called.

Tomoki looked round, a little nervous, "Eh?"

"I need to speak to you!"

Tomoki walked over nervously, "W-what?"

Ruki knew the next thing she said was going to sound odd. There wasn't really a way to avoid it or make it sound any less... stupid than it did. But a promise is a promise. 'Wait... When did I start thinking like that?'

"You know Iori-kun? He wants you to hang out with him and his friends, but didn't wanna ask you in-person. I think it's to do with Takuya and Junpei, but that's my impression. And it's not like you'd have asked. Anyway, go hang out with him! ...He asked me to say this, by the way. You want more friends, right?"

Tomoki looked very taken aback, then his eyes shone, "Thank you Ruki-san! I will!" As he turned away, he mumbled something like, "Ruki-san _is_ really nice."

Ruki went a little red, but she'd done as she'd promised. Satisfied, she went back inside, shutting the door behind her. She leant against it. She wondered why she felt so responsible, and then shrugged, "It's done now." She said aloud. She went to get herself some water.

As she entered the kitchen, she noticed Ryou's 'gift'. 'What the hell was he thinking?' She poured some water from the tap into a glass and looked resentfully at the little box. She went over to it, muttered, "I hate him so much." then picked it out of the box, and bit into it. It didn't taste bad, and so Ruki went upstairs with it, not content, just... herself. She sat on her bed, thinking, 'I'll kill him tomorrow.'

As time went past, and 8:00pm went, she heard a knock at the door, "Who is it now?" She muttered, and went downstairs. She opened the door. It was Kouji.

"Oh, you. What is it?"

"Hmph, Izumi sent me."

"Why?"

"So you'll give full details on what happened yesterday."

"No." Ruki said simply.

Kouji folded his arms, "I told her." He shrugged, yawned and stretched, "And I can't be bothered to argue with someone as stubborn as you, night!"

"Stubborn? Ha. You're just a push-over."

Kouji stopped, "...How?"

""Hime at three'o'clock!"" Ruki mimicked, "If I recall correctly." She added smugly.

"Yeah, yeah. ...Hime chocolate." He said with a slight snicker, and began to walk away.

"Humph. Couldn't even complete the "job" he'd come down to do either! Won't Izumi-chan be disappointed?" Ruki said loudly, and closed the door. She really hoped she'd hit a nerve.

"Geez!" She leant against the door for the second time that night, and put her hands to her face. "Sometimes, that guy is worse than Ryou! And that's saying something!" She was just about to clamber back up the stairs, when another knock came.

Ruki sighed loudly, and began to open the door, "Look Kouji, I can't be bother-!" It was Ryou. "Pretty boy!" Ruki exclaimed. "What is it?" She said, remembering the chocolate and beginning to seeth inwardly.

Ryou grinned, "I take it you got my chocolate?"

"Yes." Ruki snapped, "Don't send something like that again."

"Okay~!" Ryou said cheerfully, "Uh... Are you OK? It must've upset you a lot if-!"

"I'm fine! I was just really tired, and couldn't be bothered to deal with you all!" Ruki snapped again. She said that, but she wasn't sure if she meant it. It was more like "I couldn't be bothered to deal with _you!" _But that wasn't so true either. Ruki just wasn't sure. But at the very least, she didn't want Ryou to think she was mostly mad at him, he wasn't worth her time.

"Ouch, sorry." Ryou replied, shaking his head, "Well, OK uh... How was the chocolate?" His grin spread.

"Are you gonna keep me here talking about stupid things like that?"

"Yep~!"

"Fine. But you'll be talking to a closed door. Good night, Ryo-." She told him, just about to make it so he would indeed be talking to a closed door when,

"Aw, wait! You weren't in today, the least you can do is bare with me for 2 minutes!" He said, still grinning.

'Ugh, why didn't I close the door!' Her resentment for Ryou was deepening. He'd been in school today despite the attempted mugging. Like it hadn't affected him. She'd been at home. Like it had seriously affected her. She didn't want to appear so easily destressed, especially not to Ryou! She couldn't lose to him. He was an idiot! He'd embarrassed her once, but he- She stopped her thoughts. 'I'm not going there.'

She then noticed he looked a little worn out, "Have you been running?" She asked.

He looked down at himself, "Yeah... All the way froooom..." He seemed to stop himself from saying a certain something, and instead inserted, "...from my home!"

"...that was an obvious cover-up, y'know?" Ruki said, amused.

"Yeah, I know! Anyway, g'night, Ruuki!" He walked quickly away.

Ruki folded her arms, "Ugh, I don't get him sometimes!"

'Actually...I don't get him at all.' She looked at the time. It was 8:30pm. Maybe an early night would do her good, even if she had pretty much slept all day. It was just... She'd been thinking far too deeply recently.

~Finally, revised! I have word now, finally, sooo editing is going a lot quicker! Hm, this chapter didn't really develop a lot aside from Ruki's odd little inner conflict, huh? xD I'm sorry, I hope y'all still enjoyed it~


	11. The eighteenth day

~REVISED~

It seemed another typical day outside, as if no matter what happened, the weather would stay typical, just to annoy you. As Ruki walked downstairs, she thought a lot. Mainly about how she'd been acting recently,

"I'm not like this!" She said aloud, "It's just! ...Ugh. 'As if they want to be my friends... And I... I won't let them. I can't. I...' she looked out the kitchen window as she entered, "I doubt we really will stay here." She felt a little pang of sadness, and hated it. It was if she was considering these people to actually be her...friends. But that was ridiculous of course. They were just too in her face and too in her life, that was all. She was mistaking persistence from others for her caring. That logic had to be right.

'But... Then again, I _have_ been acting like what they do actually affects me... Hmph. I've gotta stop it. I've gotta concentrate, get through school, be able to move out and become independent. And then...' She entered the kitchen, and looked at the floor, "..I'll be OK, I'll be stronger then."

'"stronger" as in...?' She made some breakfast, and looked at the clock. Her mum would be back when she got in from school, and she sighed,

"It's better without her." She muttered. She ate breakfast quickly, and noticed she had 10 minutes until she had to leave. She walked back up the stairs, and was just about to enter her room, when a glint in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked to her left. Lying on the landing was a card. A digimon card. A Renamon card. Ruki's eyes widened, as she walked over back to the top of the stairs, and crouched. She picked it up carefully. As she did, she felt some sort of... feeling. Strength. Which was stupid. She stared at the card. She couldn't believe it. It had gone missing 3 years ago. She stood up, walked into her room, and put it under her pillow. 'Heh, you're such a little kid.' sneered a passing thought. But Ruki didn't care. She knew that wasn't the reason, well, she was pretty sure. She'd put it there, so that if she came back, it was still there, and nothing creepy was going on. Not that Ruki would care. She didn't believe in that kid's stuff, but still. It was odd. She checked the time, and thought it'd be best to go. As she crossed the threshold, she felt the same feeling she'd felt as she'd picked up the card. She felt... lighter, somehow. As if nothing mattered. Nothing did, she corrected herself, but nonetheless. She felt like she could take on the world. It was amazing the feeling she'd gotten from that card.

'What a stupid thought. "The feeling from that card"? Grow up, Ruki.'

"...I even feel like I could cope with a certain someone for another hundred days on end..." She said to herself, awaiting the ever-persistent Ryou's voice. But it never came. She looked around as she walked. He was nowhere to be seen. Odd. Ruki didn't care, she just found it odd. She carried on walking, happy she wouldn't have to put up with that idiot's antics. Although, a part of her found it kinda... weird. Walking with nothing to amuse her. It wasn't as if this hadn't happened before, but it still seemed odd. As she walked, she went back to her thoughts of when she was cold. Correction: How cold she was now. Realising no-one was around, she got her headphones out of her bag, and put them in her ears,

"Zutto zut-..."

Ruki switched to another track immediately. She wasn't in the mood for that sorta music right then. She put Moon fighter on, and carried on walking. She liked this song a lot. She wasn't sure why though. As she walked she remembered back in all the other schools. She'd ignored them all. So, why did all these people bother her so much? She shook her head.

"They don't bother me at all." she muttered. She continued to school, as flashes of the past came back,

"Hello Ruki-chan!"

"What's with your hairstyle?"

"Eh? Why are you wearing jeans?" Ruki gave them a bored, stare, and walked away, hands in pockets. She knew they'd never get it. But, she wasn't exactly sure what it was that people weren't getting. Then again, she was only 9, so she had time.

'Hmph. Less time now.' She thought. And yet, when these people talked to her, asked her stuff, she gave them a real reaction most of the time. Which was odd behaviour for Ruki. As the school gates came into view, she took her head phones out and put them back into her bag, 'I just need to take on my old title again...' She stopped a wry smile,

"Heh. Ice Queen..."

"Hey, she ignored me."

"As if she's better then us."

"She's an ice queen."

"Ice queen!"

"Ice Queen..."

And it was true. She didn't need other people to be strong, she only needed herself, and to remain strong. She'd learnt that a long time ago.

She entered the gates, and was immediately confronted by Ryou's fangirls,

"Where's Ryou-sama?" Asked the leader. Well, who Ruki considered the leader. Ruki almost shrugged, but stopped herself, and walked away.

"Hmph! How rude!" She heard one of them say,

"Ha! She was always rude!" responded another,

"Yeah, you're right. Aww, Ryou-samas' not here! Now what'll we do?"

Ruki rolled her eyes, and carried on walking. She decided to head over to the classroom immediately. Half-way there the bell rang. 'Juri-san will appear if I'm not quick...' She walked faster, arrived in class, sat in her seat, and got out her books. She awaited Juri's normal tap on the shoulder and morning greetings.

'Some unscheduled things really do happen on time.' she thought, as Juri tapped her on the shoulder.

"Mornin' Ruki-chan! Haha! You kept your promise~!"

'I don't need them.' Ruki reminded herself (As if she needed reminding.) She said a simple "Morning." and began scribbling down this morning's notes.

"Ruki-chan, is everything OK? Are you sure you don't need more time off, after all, the day before-!"

"It didn't affect me at all." Ruki said simply and firmly cutting Juri off. It was true; the only time it had affected her in anyway was during the attack. She hadn't thought of it much since. All that bugged her was that Ryou had stepped in. 'Trying to play hero, stupid pretty boy.' she thought, annoyed.

"Oh... Ok!" She nodded, as if she understood, and went over to some other friends to talk. Ruki breathed out slowly.

"Good morning class!" chimed the cheerful voice of Katou-sensei. She walked in and smiled a wary smile. This time, Juri didn't make an obvious reaction, and simply ignored her.

"Well, now... Uh... Oh yes, role call! Aoki!"

"Yes!"

"Akiyama!" There was no answer. A couple of Ryou's fangirls sighed simultaneously.

"Noo!" Ruki was getting more and more sick of their weird antics.

When the bell finally signalled break, Ruki stood up and walked out the classroom. She headed to the computer room, not because she liked Miyako, Ken and Koushiro, but more for the fact she didn't get bugged as much there. She could deal with Miyako easier. 'Oh wait, 21st of June... Oh no.' Of course she wasn't going to go. She had better things to do. She slid open the door of the computer room.

"Ruki-chan!" Was Miyako's surprisingly happy greeting. Ruki looked at Miyako, nodded, and "smiled" then took her place in the corner, got out some books, and began reading through.

"Oh yeah, mid-terms!" She made a motion that signified passing out, "I can't bear studying... Gotta say tho, I'm looking forward to how Daisuke-kun deals with it this year..." she giggled, an evil expression on her face. Ruki hadn't gotten her books out for that, but realised Miyako was right, and started actually paying attention to her notes in her book.

"Studying already?" Came Ken's quiet voice, as he slid open the door

"Ken-kun! Yep! I dunno if I will yet though..."

Ken chuckled, "Maybe I should..."

"You're a genius though! Do ya need to?"

Ken went a little red, "No I'm not."

"Oh no, Ken-kun's in denial~! Well, maybe you could help me!" She said, batting her eyelids, then giggling.

Ken laughed, "My pleasure." Ruki rolled her eyes, 'Oh brother...someone get me outta here...'

The door opened again, unfortunately not giving Ruki much of a reason to get outta there. Koushiro walked in.

"Well well, I see we're already studying. I'm a little surprised though, Ken-kun, do you have to?"

"It's not like I'm a genius." Ken replied, embarrassed. Both Koushiro and Miyako laughed. Ken joined in. "Ohh, stop it you guys."

The bell rang. Ruki got up, and walked out briskly. 2 hours of lessons went by, and lunch time happened. Ruki sat in the classroom, and got out her bento box.

"So, are you OK now, Ruki-chan?" Ruki looked up. It was Juri, "So...what was up this morning?"

'I-I'm not gonna bother with them. They've caught me off guard way too much recently.'

"..." was Ruki's reply.

"Uh... You really kept your promise! Um... Ruki-chan? Really, what happened? You're acting strange..."

Ruki felt irked, and before she could stop herself, "...Look, Juri-san. I don't know why anyone is bothering with me. You're not going to understand me, no matter what you do." As she said this she inwardly scolded herself, 'That's right, you keep playing the part of the tsundere. See where it gets you.'

Juri looked taken aback, "Ruki-chan... Yeah, y-you can be pretty cold at times, Ruki-chan... But I was taught by someone that someone can't be so cold without a really good reason. I-I... I guess I wanna know what that reason is... It's not like I'm not a cold person too, you know. Maybe we can help one another?" She looked away, laughing nervously.

Ruki paused. She really wasn't sure what to say. 'Don't say anything. Let them say what they want, I don't care.' So Ruki said nothing.

Juri brightened up, as if the words she had spoken moments ago had never been spoken, "Takato-kun asked me out this Sunday! We're gonna meet up at the park! Takato-kun is so sweet! He's always been there for me I guess and I'd like to be there for him sometimes too!" Ruki's wonder about Juri's feelings still bugged her. Could she really be this oblivious? 'I don't care.' She reminded herself.

"I don't know if I'd ever be able to be completely open with him though..." Juri continued quietly. Then her eyes widened, "Ah, sorry! I'm being weird, huh? Eheh. Well, I better get going, I haven't eaten much today!" She walked to the door, "...Hope you feel better soon, Ruki-chan." She almost whispered. Ruki looked at her, her eyes narrowing automatically. Yes, because she really needed help. Juri turned back to her and held up her puppet, "Wan wan! Thanks for keeping the promise~!" And she left. Ruki finished her lunch, and left. She walked toward the field, where she heard voices shouting,

"Haven't improved huh?"

"Whaddya talking about?" Ruki looked up. She could make out a lot of figures standing around, running about kicking a ball, 'Soccer huh? When was the last time I played...?' She went over to watch. When she got there, she noticed Izumi sitting at the sides. It seemed there was a pause in the game, as Daisuke had accidently tripped someone up,

"It was an accident! Why don't you guys believe me, dammit?" He shouted across the field. Izumi was giggling a little.

"Ah, poor old Dai-chan, he's such an idiot." She then covered her mouth, as she noticed another presence. When she realised it was Ruki, she breathed out.

"Phew. Don't scare me like that Ruki-chan! Ah well, 'least your here, you kept your promise!" Ruki shrugged. She was sick of this 'promise' thing, "Well, sit down! It's funny to watch all these silly guys running about, thinking they're gonna impress people."

Ruki shook her head. "I'm not here to watch."

'And dad and I never played soccer "just to impress people"...' She added silently.

"Aww. Well, if you're sure, it's your loss after all! Oh, it's starting again!" Just before it began, Takuya, who was standing close to the side, waved.

"Wish me luck, Izumi-chan!"

"Hah, as if! You don't need-! I mean..." A couple of the boys and the girls were giving Izumi odd stares. Izumi stood up abruptly "I-I mean, you're great Takuya! Go you! And everyone else!" Everyone else appeared satisfied, and turned their gaze away. Izumi looked at the ground. Takuya didn't appear happy with that reaction and looked away, seeming to murmur something to himself. Ruki found this weird. She knew Izumi was acting differently around other people, but she still didn't quite understand why. It seemed so silly. 'Not that I care.' Ruki found herself reminding herself for the 50th time that day. It was just...she couldn't help but want Izumi's weird actions explained properly. Ruki folded her arms as she watched the game,

"OI! Daisuke-kun! I'm still better!"

"No way, Takuya-kun! Besides, Taichi-sempai could kick your ass any day!"

"Hah! I doubt-!"

"You called?" Shouted another voice over the top of both. The game stopped, as everyone looked over. A boy with a massive shock of brown hair, wearing goggles, and a dark blue sports outfit stood at the side of the playing field.

"Taichi-sama!" A couple of girls squealed. The boy named Taichi grinned evily at Daisuke and Takuya.

"So, what were ya saying about me?" Ruki recognised him. Hadn't he been walking with Yamato?

"Taichi!" A girl shouted, running over to them. Taichi turned to her. She had short, orange hair and was wearing a light blue sports outfit.

"What am I going to do with you?" she asked impatiently, "We were gonna pick the latest teams! Then you hear your name being said, and you go running off!"

"Ahh, Sora! Someone mentions my name as a sort of threat in a soccer game?" He grinned, and did a thumbs up, "I gotta follow through with that!" The girl names Sora rolled her eyes, then laughed.

"Taichi, what am I gonna do with you? Oh well, since I'm here, may as well find out what's going on." Taichi's grinned widened, and then he turned back to Daisuke and Takuya.

"Daisuke-kun! You said it, right?" He walked over to Daisuke, and stood next to him, "Well then, time to go down, once again, Takuya-kun!"

"Suuure, sempai!" Takuya grinned, "I've improved since last time!"

"I-I-Its true, Taichi-san! He's been helping m-me out!" Tomoki called from the other side of the field.

"That so? Well, let's get this match over with!"

Sora walked over to the three and stretched, "Hey Taichi, I've always been on your team, so... I'll join Takuya-kun's team!"

"Aw, Sora! We've always been a team!"

"Well, it'll let us see whose better, huh?" Taichi glanced away for a split second.

"...I'm better." He said, grinning.

Sora smiled.

"Nope!" She and Takuya turned, and walked a little bit back to space out. Taichi and Daisuke did the same,

"We're gonna kick ass, Taichi-sempai!" Ruki heard Daisuke say excitedly, clearly happy to have Taichi on his team.  
10 minutes later, there had been a penalty to Takuya's team. Taichi gave Daisuke a side look.

"You didn't have to trip Sora up, y'know!" He muttered at Daisuke.

"I didn't! It was an accident!"

Taichi shrugged, "You and your "accidents" have made you pretty famous, y'know."

"They really are accidents though!" Daisuke looked a little hurt that Taichi of all people didn't seem to believe him.

Takuya kicked the ball clearly a little harder than he meant to, 'cos it was heading straight off the pitch - and straight for where Ruki and Izumi were.

"Woah! Watch ou-!" Izumi jumped up to get out of the way, but had stopped mid-sentence. Because Ruki had stepped forward, and headed the ball back to the pitch. It reminded her of when she was very young, and when her dad was still around.

"Why are you teaching her boyish stuff like soccer?" Rumiko exclaimed at her partner.

"It's more interesting than that girly stuff!" A voice said jokingly back, "And besides, Ruki-chan finds this more fun, isn't that right?"

Nearly-five-year old Ruki nodded, "Yeah! Throw the ball, dad!"

That was one of the last times Ruki had played soccer together with her dad. With anyone, really. Eventually, her mother's constant talk of being a model and "dropping all that boyish stuff" had really gotten to her. Her soccer ball had been in the bushes at the bottom of the garden for the last 2 years.

"_I'll make you a soccer superstar, yet!" He laughed._

Everyone stared, surprised that she'd managed to head the ball from that distance. Ruki didn't even realised she'd done it, until she saw everyone staring at her. Her eyes widened, and she was about to turn away, when her head began hurting a little. Well, she had hit the ball from pretty far away, there was going to be some painful consequence. She shook her head gently, hoping the headache would fade soon.

She was about to continue walking when she heard Izumi shout, "Takuya-kun! You...! You coulda killed me! Oh, and Ruki of course! Agh! When I get my hands on you-!"

Takuya rubbed the back of his head, then grinned, "Sooorry, Izumi-chan! Look on the bright side! You're acting norm-!"

Izumi had then taken into account what she'd said, as many people were looking at her again, "I-I'm kidding! Don't mean it! Haha, jus' trying to scare you! Uh, too bad, Takuya-kun, maybe next time!" She scratched the back of her head, "Ahahahaha!"

Takuya's grin faded, "Izumi-chan..." Everyone else appeared satisfied.

Ruki decided to continue walking, but was stopped by shouts, "Hey! You! Wait!" It was Taichi. Ruki didn't bother to look round. Well, until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You seem to know your stuff!" She then heard more running and Sora was there.

"Yeah! Haha! You might make a good addition to our team! Middle school students can apply, I think."

Ruki shrugged.

"W-well, if you wanna come to the tryouts..."

"No thanks." Ruki said coldly.

"H-hey! You don't have to be like-!" Taichi started heatedly, but he was stopped by Sora.

"If she doesn't want to, she doesn't want to." She put a hand on her forehead, "It's fine, Taichi."

Taichi folded his arms and muttered, "She doesn't have to be so cold about it..."

Neither Ruki nor Sora took note of this, "Well, if you change your mind, here."Sora put a hand in her pocket, looking for something, then brought out a folded piece of paper, "...I help out part-time at tennis, we need someone to take my place sometimes for soccer. If you wanna try, no one would stop you." She handed Ruki the piece of paper. As much as Ruki's thoughts said 'Don't bother.' She took it anyway.

"Soccer tryouts! August 10! Girls and boys from middle school grade 2 and above are welcome!" Ruki stuffed it in her pocket.

"...Thanks."

Sora smiled, "Well, hope we see you there." She walked over to Taichi and was about to push him back toward their game with Takuya and Daisuke when she stopped dead in her tracks.

"AHH! We left those kids for the later match at the soccer field! We still haven't decided teams and... Taichiiii, why did you have to-?"

"R-relax Sora!" Taichi cut across her, "We can make it if we..." He grabbed her hand, "...Run!" And they sprinted off past the opened-mouthed Takuya and Daisuke.

"O-Oi! Taichi-sempai!"

"Sempaii! Where're you going?"

Ruki, hands in pockets, stared after them, bewildered. She felt the paper nestled in her pocket, 'I won't go...' echoed in her mind. The bell rang.

When everyone had begun to get on with their work in class and Katou-sensei was talking to some students, two of Ryou's fangirls came up to Ruki. She looked at them.

"Uh... did Ryou-sama say anything strange to you yesterday? He's sometimes quite late, but he's always here in the end..." Ruki shrugged,

"No idea. Dunno why you'd think to ask me." she said quietly, and looked back at her work. Though she did secretly wonder what had happened to him. 'No, no I didn't.'

"Yes, but surely-!" The girls persisted, but Katou-sensei interrupted them.

"Girls, shouldn't you be in your places?"

"Y-yes Katou-sensei!" They both gave Ruki a quick glare and hurried back to their seats. When the final bell rang, Ruki picked up her bag and walked out.

Izumi caught her on her way out. "Hey! Uh... Can we talk somewhere else? Uh..." she looked at the other people going past.

"I don't wanna play along with your weird version of charades." Ruki said coldly, and walked down the corridor.

"Jeez, Ruki-chan! Why are you being like that?" Izumi huffed, walking quickly to catch up with her.

Ruki shrugged, "Wha-? N-No..." She stopped herself. She didn't want to get involved.

Izumi gave her a curious look, "Huh?"

Ruki didn't respond, instead, she carried on walking. When she reached the gate, she heard Izumi say behind her, "Fine! Um..." Ruki saw Izumi looking around out of the corner of her eye, obviously making sure no one was around.

"Ruki-chan, I don't get what's happened to you, and I doubt I'll get it, but I know it'll be okay, 'kay? Just remember what a fun time you had at the party! Well, even if you pretend you didn't have fun. Anywayz, see ya!" She turned in the opposite direction. As Ruki walked out, she heard her exclaim,

"Oh! Kouji-kun! Have you been avoiding me or-? I mean... Uh... I haven't seen you in awhile"

Ruki decided to not bother going to the secret place today, she wasn't going to put up with the annoying Kouji. As she went past the entrance, she heard a voice whisper.

"Hey!" She turned. It was Kouichi. At least, she was pretty sure.

"Hi! Um... Can I ask you a favour? I know we're not exactly friends, but I need to speak to Kouji, but he's kinda been avoiding me, and you seem kinda..." he trailed off, "...On second thought, don't worry, it's not important! Well, sorry to bother you, see you!" He walked away, clearly a little embarrassed. 'What is with people here?' Ruki asked herself.

She reached home without, surprisingly, an interruption from Ryou, 'Wonder if that all that popularity finally went to his head so he's gone nuts and has been admitted to hospital? ...Oh wait, the popularity has already gone to his head, and he is nuts. Shame about the lack of the last part.'

She walked through the door "Hey Ruki!" she heard a happy voice say. She groaned. Her mum was back. With all the annoyingness of today, she'd somehow managed to forget.

"Ruki, I haven't been very good with you recently, and think it's time I stopped acting so depressed for both our sake! I know you're down, too! So, I thought "Rumiko, I've got to be a better mother!" To start with, how was your day? I know mine was pretty great! I got bunch of new dresses-" 'She just doesn't get it, does she? She was never this desperate to get me into modelling when I was younger, and now she's just trying too hard – why can't she just stop?' Ruki thought angrily, ignoring her mum and going upstairs. She got out some text books, and read through them, 'She never follows through with anything. I bet there's just another year I'd need to put up with of this stupid school before she says we're moving again...'

~So, I've finally gotten back into revising these chapters! I'm hoping to do quite a bit with the bit of time I've got off for this story. So, added a bit of dialogue, took out unnecessary dialogue, fixed up spelling and grammar, etc! I hope you're enjoying the story!~


	12. The nineteenth day

~REVISED~

[OLD NOTE]: OK, I've been getting confused with days a bit. Well, today (I hope) is meant to be a... Thursday. Japanese schools (I think this includes elementary) go to school Monday-Saturday. I'm trying to get a calendar with the dates of holidays and such but it I haven't found much yet... Anyway, thanks to all my watchers and supporters of this story! ^_^ Try to bear with the days, I'll be keeping track from now on, promise! ^^ Also: I keep forgetting who has what honorific, I'll try be more consistent, sorry!

Ruki rolled over, 'Great. Another day.' she got up, got changed, and went downstairs. Her mum was obviously sleeping in today. 'So much for a new start,' Ruki thought. She was amused, but she felt a little resentful. Not that she was aware of it. Ruki made breakfast, and began eating. As she did so, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Her mum walked in,

"Morning, Ruki-chan!" She walked over to her to the oven, "You mind if I have the leftovers?" Ruki shrugged.

"If you don't answer, I'll take it as a yes~!" Ruki shrugged again. This was like the old days. When it was just her mum and her, several years after dad had left. Her mum had been feeling a lot better, and she'd be like this. But her job kept her away from Ruki a lot, so she and Ruki didn't hang out very often. But when they did, her mum was just like this. Ruki recalled the day she no longer felt like her mum knew her. It was 5 years ago,

7 year old Ruki padded down the stairs to get a glass of water. It was 11'o'clock at night. As she crept past the lounge, she heard snippets of the conversation coming from it,

"Yes mum... But... I get worried, y'know? That she hates me. She has never gotten on with any of the kids at her schools, she hates dresses and stuff like that." Ruki felt surprised and listened carefully,

"Well... No, but... Maybe it's 'cos I'm being so bright and cheerful, y'know? She was so upset when he left... as was I... but, maybe I should stop acting so happy all the time, maybe that will encourage her to express her real feelings a little more? ...oh, but I do! I still want her to become a model! Just... Eh? What do you mean it doesn't make sense? Oh I... I'm so confused. Well, I'd better get to bed, she's got a new school tomorrow, who knows, maybe she'll get on with kids there. Look, it's OK. Yes, okay, see you soon. Bye, mum."  
Ruki padded quietly and as swiftly as she could back upstairs, and got under her covers, her head spinning with what she'd heard. She wasn't even entirely sure she'd understood completely. Her own mother...

Ruki sure understood it now. The worst part: When Ruki had tried several times before to confront her mother about it, her mother had dodged all her questions, pretended there was no problem!

'I'm giving up on you, mum. Dad's gone, and you're pretty much not here. I don't care anymore.'

Ruki walked to the door, picked up her bag, and sports bag. As she opened the door, she heard her mum call,

"...See you later!"

Ruki closed the door, and leant against it, as she took a deep breath. She then began walking. She got out her headphones, relieved that pretty boy didn't seem to be coming. But once again, it felt odd. When she reached school, she spotted Kouichi. Or was it Kouji? Nope, it was definitely Kouichi. He approached her.

"Hi! Uh, about yesterday, please don't mention it; I'd be so embarrassed, especially if Kouji-kun found out."

Ruki shrugged. "Hm."

"Uh... Please don't. Eheh, he'd probably want to talk to me or something, and it's really awkward..." he scratched the back of his head.

"Why am I telling you all this? Oh well, thanks, Ruki-san. See you." He walked away. Ruki was surprised he'd trusted that she wouldn't say anything so quickly, 'Naive.' She thought, although she wasn't going to say anything. It was none of her business after all. After awhile, the bell rang. First lesson was PE. She headed to the gym. As she got there, she heard panting behind her and she whirled around. It was Ryou,

"Hey." He said weakly, clutching his side, "I'm not _that_ late am I?" he grinned, trying to tease her. Ruki narrowed her eyes.

"Ugh. I can't be bother-! Hey. What's with your side...?" She noticed Ryou clutching his right side.

"N-Nothing! I tripped! ...Well, something tripped me up! Eheh..."

"I'm not that dumb." she said, noticing a drop of blood fall from under his jumper. Her eyes widened in alarm.

"It's clearly bad, what are you doing here and why aren't you in a hospital?"

"Uhh... Here to see you?"

"Not impressed."

"Didn't think so... Ugh! Damn..."

"Ryou, you idiot... I resent this." She walked up to him, and made him put an arm around her shoulder, "We're gonna have to get you to the nurse's office!" She told him, trying to make him walk with her support.

"Hey. I don't need this y'know? And... Ugh..." he winced in pain again.

Ruki rolled her eyes, "See? Now, c'mon! I'm gonna be wounded almost as badly as you if I have to keep supporting your weight here."

He grinned weakly, "Jealous I'm so tall?"

"Yes, because everyone is jealous of you for some reason, Ryou. Yet, here you are, needing my help."

"Didn't ask for it."

"Shall I leave you here and go to PE?"

"Would Hime be so cruel?"

"Yep." Not that Ruki was sure she really would leave him.

Ryou scratched the back of his head,

"Okay okay... But I'm not going home." Ruki was about to ask why when she forced herself to remember her promise to herself about not getting involved. So she rolled her eyes at him again and they began walking slowly to the nurse's office. A few students saw them and ran over in alarm. It was Kouichi, Takuya, Izumi and Kouji.

"R-Ryou-san!" Takuya gaped, "W-What the-?"

"I'll go ahead to the nurse's office!" Kouichi told them, running off.

Kouji folded his arms, "What happened?"

"Long story."

Ruki bit back a remark. A few minutes later the nurse ran out to help Ryou. When they'd finally got Ryou to the nurse's office, the nurse was about to check the wound when Ryou shook his head.

"No need! I bandaged it."

"Silly! You think that'll heal it? It's still bleeding, and badly!" The nurse said briskly.

"But-!"

"No buts."

Ruki, Kouji, Izumi, Takuya and Kouichi stood outside, waiting. Ruki sat down against the wall left of the door. Kouji leant against the right wall whilst Takuya, Izumi and Kouichi sat on the chairs opposite. After what seemed forever (Which was actually 5 minutes) they heard Ryou yelp,

"Ouch! Look, I...!"

"T-That's...!"

"I-I know! Please don't say anything!"

"I'm going to call your parents immediate-"

"You can't!" Ryou cut in. He sounded very wary, and un-typical Ryou-ish.

"Why not?" The nurse asked him sternly,

"Uh... 'cos... They're on vacation!"

"And they leave a 14 year old boy to fend for himself?"

"I'm very capable." It didn't sound as if he were joking. There was a long pause, then Ryou coughed, "So... Please, just clean it up and put a fresh bandage on it, then let me go."

The nurse sighed.

"Fine. But if you collapse because of, oh I don't know, blood-loss from over-exertion, it's your fault. Got it?"

"Yep, I got it before you began your sentence." Ryou now said jokingly. Ruki could imagine the typical grin on his face. She began to wonder if there was any sort of truth behind that grin. She stood up and folded her arms, as Ryou walked out,

"Hey guys!" Ryou said cheerfully, "It's all okay! Told ya!" Ruki didn't buy it, but before she could start, Izumi had already begun questioning him.

"How'd it happen?"

"I tripped."

"When?"

"Yesterday night."

"What on?"

"A sharp rock on my way back."

"Where?"

"Outside my house."

"Do you realise those are bad excuses?"

"Ye-uh, no." Ryou stumbled for the first time in Izumi's third degree.

Takuya laughed, "Izumi-chan, lay off of him. I don't think he'll die."

"Hmmm."

"He will if he carries on lying to Izumi." Kouji said quietly.

"That's right! It'll be worse than that "sharp rock" you claimed to have tripped on." Izumi said sarcastically.

Ryou threw his arms in the air, "Why won't anyone believe me? I'm fine."

"W-Well, if Ryou-san says so, I think we should believe him." Kouichi's quiet voice was heard for the first time in this conversation. Everyone looked to him. He was sitting down, fiddling with a piece of paper he'd found on the chair.

"So, I think we should head back to class. We've missed a lot anyway." He stood up, putting the piece of paper back on the chair. As he drew his hand away, he sliced the end of his finger on the paper.

"Ow!" He shook his hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruki noticed Kouji flinch. She looked over at Kouji as he looked intently at his finger, the same one that Kouichi had cut – the little finger. His eyes widened for a second, but then he noticed Ruki staring at him. Half-scowling at her, he stuffed his hand back in his pocket and shrugged.

"I don't see the point in hanging around. Izumi, as tough as your third-degrees' are, you're not gonna get anything outta him." He nodded in Ryou's direction, and turned around, hands in his pockets. "Later." He walked down the corridor and out of sight. Kouichi seemed to suspect something, and ran after him.

Izumi looked puzzled, "Well, see ya later!" And she ran after the two. Takuya, on the other hand, looked completely confused and bewildered.

"Uhh, later, you two! Hey! Guys! Waaaaaait!" He ran down the corridor after them. Ryou and Ruki watched them silently for a few seconds until Ryou began laughing.

"Haha! And you imply that _I'm _insane."

Ruki shrugged, "You're _all _insane, then." She began making her way down the corridor, hands in pockets.

"Aw, Hime doesn't care about me... Izumi-chan and the others asked me how I was, but you didn't say anything..."Ryou "lamented". Ruki turned back to face him just to show him her rolling her eyes at him, turned back and carried on walking. Ryou began walking quickly to catch up with her. As he did, he took a sharp intake of breath.

'_Damn, he's screwed me over...'_

Luckily, Ruki didn't notice. He forced himself to catch up and walk beside her. Ruki tried to make the distance between them wider.

There was silence until Ryou broke it. "Well, if we any walk slower, I'm sure we'll miss gym~" He sounded cheerful, despite the whole injury thing. "...I don't really feel like hanging out with Aoko and the others..."

Ruki vaguely recalled Aoko was one of Ryou's fangirls. "Don't you like all that... affection?"

'Ridiculously creepy affection?' Ruki silently added.

"Eheh, I know how they seem. But they honestly aren't that bad, I consider them my friends."

"I somehow don't think they look at you as a friend..."

"What?" Ryou laughed, "Yeah, yeah. I know how it looks. People call them my "fangirls"; they call me "Ryou-sama" but... ahah, it sounds weird, but they're just my friends. ...Strange friends."

Ruki shrugged. "They're obsessive and I don't care."

Ryou gave her a side-glance, "Of course you're not jealous, pumpkin." Ruki resisted the urge to swipe at him.

When they reached gym it was 10 minutes away from the end. Ryou stretched and then winced at the pain in his side.

"Ow, remind me not to do that..." Ruki shook her head exasperatedly at him. He was so determined to not have that injury affect anything; Ruki wasn't even going to bother to mention it. Ryou nodded and grinned, "Thanks."

They parted at the changing rooms. Ruki entered the girls, and set her gym bag down on the closest free space on a bench. A few minutes later a couple of girls ran in, including Juri.

"Eh? Ruki-chan? What happened?"

Ruki shrugged, "I was late." She wasn't going to make up an excuse, nor was she going to mention Ryou. The amount of rumours it would start.

"Aw, too bad." Said one of Juri's friends,

"It was fun!" the other said.

Juri giggled, "Yeah, Yamato-sempai walked past, and a lot of the girls ran to the fence to call to him. Then Taichi-sempai appeared to talk to him, and the rest of the class ran over. Except Alice-san, but she never takes part..." she trailed off. One of her friends, a girl with blonde hair tied up in pigtails, a red striped shirt, named Itou Ayaka, picked up the trail,

"Yeah... With Yamato-sempai and Taichi-sempai, you're a fan of one or the other, huh? Haha!"

Ruki shrugged. Juri giggled again.

"I didn't ask. Who do you guys like?"

"Yamato-sempai~!" Said the other girl, her name was Nakajima Miki. She wore a blue one-piece dress, with a white shirt underneath, and had very short purple hair.

"Taichi-sempai!" Ayaka laughed. "See? One or the other!" Which guy do you like, Juri-chan?"

"Ohh... Well, I'm not that fussed, buuut Yamato-sempai has a nice singing voice! I guess him..." She laughed. Miki looked at the floor, "Poor Takato-kun..."

Ayaka nodded in agreement. "Unrequited love must be so difficult..."

Juri looked at them both, "W-What? Takato-kun...?" She started to look a little embarrassed.

Ayaka folded her arms, "Juri-chan, you can't be _that _oblivious..."

Juri shook her head, "You guys, quit kidding around..." She clearly didn't want to continue this odd conversation. Whilst Ruki couldn't help but agree with Ayaka, the obvious awkwardness that Juri felt was getting to Ruki.

She stood up, "So, where's everyone else?" Juri gave Ruki a grateful look.

"Eh? Oh, like we said, they ran over to the two sempai! The gym teacher got pretty mad. It's actually kinda funny." Ayaka and Miki laughed again.

"So, why didn't you two stay out there?" Juri couldn't help but ask.

The two girls looked embarrassed, "Um... There are other people we like..."

Ruki was tired of this "so-so likes so-so" game, and was relieved when the rest of the class ran in, giggling, followed by an exhausted-looking gym teacher.

"I don't expect to see that... ridiculous behaviour from any of you again!" She shouted, but nobody listened, as they were too preoccupied with gossiping about Taichi and Yamato; debates on who was better.

The teacher looked around, and noticed Ruki, "Makino-kun!" She said sharply. Ruki, who had previously sat back down, stood back up.

"...Yes, Sensei?"

"You were marked absent. Where were you?"

"I was late." Was all Ruki said. She was not saying anything about Ryou, or any of the earlier events. People would pester her with silly questions that didn't matter, plus she couldn't think of another excuse right then and there.

"Not good enough. I'll see you this lunch time." The gym teacher turned and strode out the changing rooms without another word. People stared at Ruki, some curious, some with suspicious looks. Ruki shrugged, what did they know? Nothing. They didn't have any right to poke into her business. She sat back down and got out her timetable. It was English next. Juri looked concerned and walked over to her.

"Um... Do you want someone to go with you? I hate doing detentions, so maybe you'd like some company...?" Ruki shook her head,

"I'm fine." was all Ruki said.

Juri nodded, then lowered her voice, "..you weren't just late, were you? I saw you helping Ryou-san..." Ruki glanced around to make sure no one had heard her, then looked back at Juri.

"And?"

Juri laughed a little, "Nothing. But... What was wrong with him?"

Ruki shrugged, "The idiot wouldn't tell me."

Juri looked thoughtful, "It's odd huh?"

Ruki shrugged.

The bell rang,

"Ah! Wait for me!" Juri began, and began scrabbling about for her bags. Ruki was surprised. Juri had other friends she could walk with her. Why did she want to walk with her? Once Juri had slung her backpack on, she stood up quickly.

"Ready! Let's go!" She cheerfully said in English.

"So, are you revising?" Juri asked, as they entered their classroom,

"Kinda." Bit of an exaggeration; she'd glanced at a couple of English notes in her book in the last four days.

Juri smiled, "I've barely started. I guess I should start, huh? Haha. I don't wanna get low marks, and I don't want... Katou-sensei worried about my grades..." she said the last part quieter, then brightened up. "Well, I'm not gonna get any smarter by chatting all day! See you later Ruki-chan!" She went over to her desk, as did Ruki, 'Juri-san... What's with her?' she paused in thought, tempted to make it deep thought, then shrugged. She got out her books, and sat down. As she did, Ryou walked in, 'Here it comes...' Ruki thought, as his fangirls rushed over to him.

"Ryou-saaaaamaaa! Are you OK? We were so worried!"

Ryou laughed, "I'm fine! Don't worry, okay? I came down with a bit of a fever..." He looked in Ruki's direction. Ruki looked away immediately, she wasn't gonna give him any kind of satisfaction. 'Then again, knowing him, looking away will give him some sort of satisfaction. Stupid pretty boy.'

"Err, if you all don't mind..." said a quiet yet firm voice from behind Ryou and the girls. It was Katou-sensei.

"Sorry sensei!" The girls said simultaneously.

Katou-sensei just shook her head, "If you'll just take your seats..." The girls hurried back to their desks. Ryou just walked casually to his desk, second to the front. As Katou-sensei began getting out some books, Takato and Jenrya walked in talking, Alice a little ways behind them.

Ryou turned to Ruki, "So, what was your excuse for gym?" Ruki ignored him, "Aw, c'mon, Ruuki?"

She rolled her eyes, "I didn't say anything about your injury, if that's what you wanna know." she told him, keeping her voice low.

"...Thanks. Hm, Ruki-?"

Before he could finish, Katou-sensei called, "Ok! I'm sorry to take so long! Quiet down! It is lesson time after all... Now... Um... English, is it? Yes, okay..." She began scribbling a Romanised alphabet down on the board. Ruki's eyes glazed over, and mindlessly wrote down the notes Katou-sensei had put up on the board. Most of the class did the same.

"Haaa! I hated that last question..." Ruki heard Takato say to Jenrya.

"Hehe, I see why people find it difficult." Jenrya said mildly.

Juri walked over to them, "Well, its break now, thankfully!"

"Yeah!" Takato nodded, then sighed again, "She picked me like... three times... I didn't know the answer to the last two..."

"Eh? But you answered right. I heard her say correct..." Juri said puzzled.

Jenrya smiled, "I..helped him."

Juri laughed. "Ohh."

"H-hey! I got the first one right!" Takato said, a little defensively.

"Don't worry, Takato." Jenrya assured him, "I only knew them 'cos I'd revised them just last night." He laughed a little.

"Lee-kun, you're studying already?" Takato sounded surprised,

"Yeah, I don't wanna fail."

"But you top the class every term! Except... Last term..." He glanced round at Alice, who was sitting behind them, staring at her desk. She looked up, blinked, opened her mouth, as if to speak, then closed it, a sad look crossing her face. Takato looked away, embarrassed. Jenrya's face betrayed no emotion.

At this point, Ruki had finished copying up the notes, and had stood up, packing her things away.

Ryou turned to her, "What're you gonna do now?" Ruki shrugged. As if she was going to tell him.

Ryou grinned, stood up, and walked over to Takato, Juri, Jenrya and Alice. 'He's acting weird...' Ruki thought suspiciously, '...What am I saying, he's always acting weird.' The idea of Ryou having some awful injury was still playing on her mind. How could he continue to act as if nothing was up? She noticed a slight limp in his step. As much as she hated to admit it, it really bugged her.

"Hey guys!" Ryou greeted them all.

"Ryou-san!" Takato looked up at him.

"Have you started studying yet, Ryou-san?" Juri asked,

"I wish. I see those books, and I just can't bring myself to open them!" Takato and Juri laughed,

Jenrya smiled, "Enjoy attempting to study then, Ryou-san." He said amused.

"Will do." Ryou grinned.

Ruki stood up, and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Eh? Ruki-san? You're going already?" Takato asked, surprised.

"Yeah."

"Oh... Have you started studying yet?"

"Kinda."

"Why can't they lay off the midterms until the final year of middle school...or the first year of high school..." Takato muttered.

"Agreed! It's the same in every other school though, nothing we can do..." Ryou sighed.

'Every other school?' Ruki thought a little resentfully, 'Hmph, things would be different. I wouldn't be here. Why couldn't I have gotten sent to one of the other schools?' Ruki headed toward the door,

"Ah! Ruki-chan...?" Juri called. Ruki carried on walking. "Will you eat lunch with us?" She called. Ruki stopped, 'Why do they persist?'

"I've got somewhere to be." she said loudly, and carried on walking down the hall. She heard Jenrya say to the rest of them, "Just leave her, I guess. She doesn't wanna join, there's no point in bugging her..."

At that point, Ruki heard a gasp as Jenrya exclaimed, "Alice-san?" Light footsteps were heard. Ruki turned to see Alice standing there.

"...Don't...Just... Walk away..." she said with a voice that clearly wanted to sound annoyed yet couldn't quite achieve that, so it remained quiet. As though she couldn't say any more. Jenrya, followed by Ryou, then Juri and then Takato, came running out the classroom.

Ruki blinked, surprised at this. She wanted to turn away, yet Alice's story that Ryou told her echoed in her mind. Looking at Alice like this, she felt she could believe it.

But that'd be like showing compassion of some sort. Ruki was an ice queen. _The _Ice Queen. Why should she do something out of the character she'd established for herself?

'Or, would that be the character others have established for you?'

"...I-I've got somewhere to be." she repeated, though she was annoyed to find her voice wasn't convincing at all. She was about to turn away when Alice began speaking again. Well, forcing herself to speak, it sounded difficult.

"I heard... Her voice... Calling your name whilst... I was... there." She began coughing.

Ruki turned back to her, "...What?"

Jenrya's eyes widened, "Alice-san... What do you mean...? Who's voice? Where?"

Alice had stopped coughing, and was about to say more, when another bout of coughing struck her.

Jenrya shook his head and held up his hands, "Don't push yourself! A-At least you can talk, Alice-san..." he smiled. Alice looked surprised and looked at the ground. Ryou seemed very surprised, Juri was smiling, and Takato looked confused.

Jenrya glanced at Ruki, then said, "C'mon guys. Ruki-san clearly has somewhere to be." he nodded at Ruki, then turned. Alice stared at Ruki for awhile, her face completely expressionless. After awhile, she turned away and walked back toward the classroom. Was this... Guilt Ruki was starting to feel?

"Takato, maybe we should study together? It'll help us both."

"E-Eh! O-Oh! Thanks!" Takato blushed a bit. They turned, and were about to head back into the classroom when someone called Takato's name.

"TAAAKATOO!" It was Hirokazu, followed by Kenta.

Takato looked behind him, "You guys? What's up?" Hirokazu raced passed Ruki,

"Remember the Digimon match you promised me? I left class early to get ready and I'm _still _waiting!"

"Ah! I-I forgot! Aw, c'mon, Hirokazu! I promised that yesterday! Gimme a couple of days!"

"Ohhh no, you're not getting outta it this time!"

"He's really determined today..." Kenta added, a sweat drop forming on his head.

Hirokazu then took note of Ryou, "Ah! Ryou-san! We've _gotta_ have a match sometime! I think I'm improving!" A sweat drop appeared on Ryou's head as well. They all [excluding Ruki] were thinking the same thing, 'He's in a cocky mood... Something good must've happened.'

"Maybe another time..." Ryou replied.

"Aw, Ryou-san! Don't deny me this chance of awesomeness!"

"Yeah..."

"Aw, fine! Well...!" he grabbed Takato's arm, "I'll just take him then!" and began dragging the reluctant Takato down the hall.

"Hirokazu! I never agreed!"

Kenta glanced at everyone, voicing their thoughts, "Hehe, something really good must've happened to Hirokazu... Well, see you! Hey, you guys! Wait up!" He ran down the hall after them.

"Poor Takato-kun..." Juri said,

"He'll be fine...I think. He's just gonna be heartbroken after missing this opportunity." Ryou said casually. Then, without one look at Ruki, they went back into the classroom. It was like Ruki hadn't been there during that whole conversation. 'Ah, what do I care? At least they're doing what I want them to do – leaving me alone.' She headed to the computer room.

"Heyy, Ruki-chan!" greeted Miyako.

'...Why do I keep coming here?' Ruki asked herself, as she sat down, not replying.

Ken entered, "Hey you two. Hm... Have you seen Koushirou-sempai? He was going to help me with a part of my revision..."

Miyako looked shocked, "You need help? Am I hearing you right?"

Ken laughed, "Seems so, Miyako-chan... Done any studying?"

"I'm an _aspiring_ genius, so I don't need to study! I'll just wait till I'm suddenly able to know things without studying!" she sounded almost serious, which made Ken laughed some more.

"Good luck with your tests in that case."

The computer room door slid open once again. "Hey guys."

"Ah, Koushirou-sempai. Can you help me out?" Ken got out a text book.

"Eheh, uh, we'll have to make it quick, I'm studying with Mimi-chan soon..." he blushed very slightly.

"Oooooh, go you Koushirou-sempai!" Miyako punched the air, then giggled.

"Ahh! Miyako-chan! What're you implying? I-It's not like that!" He was going red. Now Ruki thought about it, she'd never even met this Mimi, who's name she'd heard quite often. It didn't matter, the less people she knew here, the better.

"Um... Ignore Miyako-chan-" Ken began.

"Ken-kun! How can you be so mean!"

"-and help me with..." he opened to a page of the textbook and pointed to a question, "...this question." He gave Miyako a small smile as apology. This seemed to satisfy Miyako, who beamed back. Ruki just didn't get it.

As Koushirou finished explaining, the bell rang, "...Well, hope that clears things up! See you!" He sounded cheerful as he waved and walked quickly out the classroom.

"Ha ha! He so likes her!" Miyako laughed.

"Is it really any of our business?" Ken asked, embarrassed.

"Yup~!"

Ken shook his head, "You're gonna get into trouble thanks to your curiosity one day, Miyako-chan..." He sounded genuinely worried.

Miyako looked at the ground, "Hehe... Yeah..." She paused for a moment and then looked at the ceiling, "But hey, people can either love me or hate me! It's their problem. I'm happy as I am." She glanced at both Ken and Ruki, "Is that such a bad thing?"

Ruki's eyes widened for a moment. If she thought like that, maybe she wouldn't have to be so cold...

"People need to get to know someone before they decide whether they dislike them or not, anyway. If they don't, it's not fair." Ruki said it quietly, unsure of her words.

Ken nodded in agreement, yet Miyako seemed surprised, "Eh? You can't say you've never not liked someone based on first impressions and appearances. It's just what people do; you can't do anything about it. If they want to do that then let them..."

"You're still you..." Ruki murmured to herself. She wasn't going to say it aloud, but she agreed with Miyako. "Yeah..." was he vague response.

Ken looked at the floor, "I-I guess that's something Miyako-chan has been guilty of, huh?"

"Still am." She said bluntly. Then she shrugged, "I'm not saying people do it with everyone, I'm just saying there're times is all. Same with me, same with everyone. Oh, but I wouldn't go out of my way to be horrible to whoever I disliked. Now that I just don't agree with."

Ken nodded again, "But I still agree with Makino-san's statement..."

Ruki found it a little ironic that she'd gone so quickly to agreeing with Miyako and disagreeing with what she herself had just said. It was nice to know that someone agreed with her idealistic words though.

Then she realised she was taking into account what they thought, their feelings on things. No matter how much Ruki was hating how much she liked Miyako's honesty about some things.

Ruki stood up, "Oh, the bell went, didn't it?" She sounded cold now. She walked across toward the door.

Ken looked a bit taken aback, "O-Oh. Yeah, see you, Makino-san."

As Ruki walked out the door, she heard Miyako say, "But what Ruki-chan said would require that person to let people get to know them. I'm sure she would agree."

Ruki twitched a little. Of course, there were some things Miyako said that really annoyed her. She carried on walking, '...I really don't care what she thinks. Her words may have been right, but if you do let others get to know you then there's no guaranteeing they'll always be nice to you. You'll only make yourself vulnerable – weak.'

Relying on yourself was the only way out of it. Ruki could never let go of this philosophy.

After what felt like a year's worth of a lesson, the bell rand. Relieved, Ruki got out her lunch. She felt very hungry for some reason. Luckily, she'd packed some onigiri that she'd made herself,

"Yo! Hey... You made that yourself?" She heard Ryou's voice say from behind her. She didn't reply, and carried on eating, "Aww, Ruuki! Can I have some?"

"Keep wishing."

"I will."

Ruki didn't reply to that.

"Y'know... I'll take your silence as a yes~."

Ruki carried on eating. As she did so, she dropped an onigiri onto the table. Despite the fact Ryou was sitting at the desk behind her, she didn't bother to turn around to say, "Have that if you want."

"Okay!" He reached forward, whispering "thanks" into her ear as he leant over. His breath freaked her out just a bit and she shook her head to get rid of the feeling. Ryou laugh as he leant back, and swallowed it whole.

Ruki rubbed her ear,

"I don't wanna catch idiocy..." She muttered loudly enough for him to hear.

"Oh, don't worry, they've found a cure."

"Yeaaah."

"Ahah, sorry Ruuki, guess I scared you there." He paused, "...Hey, Ruki. Why have you been so-"

"Ruki-chan!" Came Juri's voice, "Wow! You make them yourself?" Ruki nodded. "Ahah, we should make some together sometime. I can teach you how to make other stuff, I promise! ...Oh, now I think of it, I'm making dinner tonight." she sighed, "Just me and Kyou tonight."

"Kyou?" Ruki asked before she could stop herself.

"Oh, never mind." Juri sounded a little embarrassed, shaking her head.

Jenrya walked over, "Oh, nice, onigiri. What did you put inside them?" A cooking conversation sprung up, one which Ruki couldn't find a way out of. She found that she didn't seem to mind, however, it was actually interesting after all. Assuming she never found anything they said interesting, of course.

Ryou scratched the back of his head, "Jeez, you guys, I can make barely anything! Can't remember the last time I ate something that was homemade." he laughed.

Juri looked at him, apparently shocked, "Ryou-san, really? That's kinda..."

"Yeah, it sucks, I know..." Ryou laughed again.

"...Kyou tried making something once!" Juri changed the subject quick, "There was raw fish, and seaweed all over the kitchen. He was only 4... But it was still funny! And when I walked in, he ran up to me, shouting, "Juri-neechan! I made sushi!" and then I had to make it properly."

Takato walked over, laughing, "Shiuchon tried making bread at the bakery, when Lee-kun's family came round once."

Jenrya laughed, "Yeah, flour was everywhere, and my parent's faces!" They both started laughing together, "And Shiuchon had no idea what was going on when dad told her off." he sighed, "It was difficult defending Shiuchon in that situation..."

"Ahah, yeah. I never knew you could be so protective of Shiuchon 'till then." Jenrya went quiet at Takato's words. "Ah, Lee-kun... I didn't mean..!" Takato began.

Jenrya shook his head, "No, I know you didn't mean anything by that..."

They all went quiet. Ruki finished eating, and put her lunch box away, ignoring the awkward silence, which Ryou broke, "Heh, it must be interesting to have siblings..."

"You could say that I suppose..." Jenrya said, looking thoughtful.

Ruki stood up, and was about to walk out, when she heard, once again, the quiet voice of Alice say, "Ruki..."

"...E-Eh?" Ruki said, sounding a little too harsh.

Alice seemed not to notice, "Stop just walking... Away like that..." She coughed a bit again. Jenrya walked quickly over to her, clearly wanting to do something to help, but she shook her head.

"I'm... Fine..." she said even more quietly. Ruki looked back at Alice, her oddly pale blue eyes staring back. "I was told... that everyone, including... you-" She seemed to struggle to say more, but seemed to fail, and resumed staring at her desk. Everyone had a mixture of confusion and alarm on their faces.

"W-What?" Ruki tried to stop herself from sounding freaked out, but that failed. "What have you been told...?" Alice seemed like she wanted to say more, yet she didn't.

Jenrya shook his head, "This is getting weirder."

"Do you know what she means?" Ruki asked him.

Jenrya looked at her, slightly surprised, "Eh? No... you two have never met have you?"

"I've never met any of you before."

Jenrya nodded, "Yeah... But still..." he glanced back at Alice, worried.

This time, Takato broke the silence, "Isn't it a good thing? Alice-san hasn't really spoken in... a long time..."

"Oh..." Jenrya smiled, "Yeah."

"Maybe me and Alice-san will be able to go swimming again... We had a contest once." Juri whispered.

Jenrya blinked, "You guys know one another?"

"Not well, we met for swimming lessons sometimes. It was... two years ago..." She walked over to Alice's desk, "Remember, Alice-san?" Alice looked at Juri and nodded slowly.

"Yes... I... "She stopped.

"You..?" Juri prompted her gently.

"...beat you. I beat you." Everyone looked at Juri, who had stood up, and started laughing.

"Yes... I wasn't very good at swimming; you had to help me out." She continued laughing.

Ryou smiled, whispering to Takato, so low Ruki only just heard it, "Shame you weren't there, Takato-kun..."

Takato looked shocked and very embarrassed, "R-Ryou-san...!"

Ryou laughed now, "I'm kidding! I'm surprised Alice-san was like that. But then again, I never knew her that well."

"I'm sure she still is like that, somewhere." Takato said, smiling at Juri who was still giggling and the slightly bewildered-looking Alice.

Jenrya walked over, "It does sound like her... She was always helpful without being patronising. Trying to help someone swim by challenging them to a race seems like her." Jenrya sounded happy. Ruki then realised she'd been standing there for the last few minutes listening. Maybe Alice wasn't who she assumed she was. But then again, Ruki hadn't gotten to know Alice. Not that it was possibly considering her strange condition. Ruki almost wanted to laugh, 'I guess your idea of disliking someone on sight works the opposite way, as well, Miyako-chan.' Nonetheless, there was no reason for her to be hanging around. Alice's moment of almost-regaining-herself-ness was over; she turned, and walked out the classroom without saying anything. Not that she needed to say anything, she'd already made it clear she was leaving.

As she reached the door, she heard Juri say, "See you later Ruki-chan! Oh, Takato-kun, how did your card match go?"

"Huh? Oh, uh..."

"He lost of course!" said the triumphant voice of Hirokazu from across the other side of the room.

Ruki began walking down the hall, when she heard a whisper,

"Hey! Ruki-chan! No, not over there, over here!" Ruki glanced around until she noticed Izumi standing against the wall, quite a while away.

"Huh?"

Izumi walked over to her quickly, "What was all that stuff about earlier with Ryou-san?" Ruki shrugged. As annoying as it was to admit it, she had no idea either, "Ohhh, c'mon, you've gotta know! I've been wondering all morning! It's all me and Kouichi-kun could talk about! Kouji-kun was acting surprised for once, and Takuya-kun was just as bewildered..." Ruki shrugged again. It'd just occurred to her that Izumi had been acting as what she defined as "normal" of her around Kouji, Kouichi and Takuya. None of them had made a big deal of it. Had something happened or had Izumi just forgotten or-?

"Y'know, Ruki-chan, you've been acting differently... What's wrong?"

Ruki glanced away, as if she was going to say anything. She'd made up her mind. She couldn't let these people think she cared. Soon enough they would see her as that weird, cold girl who ignores everyone."Nothing. See you later." she carried on walking down the hall.

"Ah! Aww, c'mon! Really, Ruki-chan, what is the matter with you?"

"...Don't refer to me as "-chan"."

"But we're friends!" Izumi looked indignant now, "Like it or not!"

Ruki paused, very unsure of what to say. She'd never encountered someone like Izumi. "I... don't have any friends." she said, almost as if she were trying to convince herself, not Izumi.

"Really?" Izumi said, raising an eyebrow, "What about Juri-san and Ryou-san?"

Ruki turned around. "They just happen to talk to me, and call themselves my friends, doesn't mean they are."

"Okay, fine. Maybe they aren't your friends. Maybe you're just in the wrong places at the wrong time and you're actually a really cold person. But you hang around. You say things that make sense, that sometimes help and sometimes don't. Like a normal person. Like a friend. Sooo are you sure about them not being your friends? Are you sure you don't care?"

Despite Ruki's indignation over feeling like she was being lectured – as if she was a child! – She still couldn't help but hear some truth in Izumi's words. It wasn't as if she hadn't worked it out, she just didn't want to acknowledge it. She wanted to remain a strong person in her own mind for as long as she could.

"You know..." Izumi continued, "I kinda feel a little resentful of you, you know? You're surrounded by people who would be happy for you to be your normal self, just so they know what it is. You've got the chance to have real friends who accept you, I guess is what I mean. I lost that chance awhile back. So yeah..."

Ruki half-sighed, "But who says we _have_ to have friends? Who says that's the meaning of being happy? Or strength? Or anything? Who says it's essential?"

Izumi blinked, "...No one... Yeah, that's true. Friends, relationships in generally, aren't central to happiness. I know that. But... it's still nice to have? Especially if they're friends who you can trust, right? That's what I am. Everyone else thinks they are as well. It's true it's not a guarantee they'll all accept you. I know a few people who don't like you." She stopped to giggle here, "Not that I think you care. Which is good. I wish I could be like that. Still, I guess what I'm really trying to say is that we're here and you don't have to keep being all cold and stuff, okay? Keep that in mind, Ruki-chan." She waved and walked away.

Ruki paused. Now what? Well, there wasn't really anything else she could do except go the computer room, and go to the computer room she did. She sat down on the nearest chair, feeling almost weary. She was annoyed at herself for having that conversation; saying what she felt. It served no purpose for her, she could not forget that. Yet...

"_Still, I guess what I'm really trying to say is that we're here and you don't have to keep being all cold and stuff, okay? Keep that in mind, Ruki-chan."_

' For once, the computer room was empty. Well, until the door slid open. Izumi popped her head round,

"Oh, in case I didn't make it clear, whilst I can't really speak for the other guys, I still consider myself your friend! I think I'm gonna have to find a way to prove it, and therefore prove you wrong though!" She showed a victory sign, and then slid the door shut as she left.

'...She's the one acting different. She's supposedly worried what others think, right?'

Ruki picked up her bag and rummaged through it, looking for her text books.

"Hmm..." When she found one, she got it out, and began flicking through it, until she found where she had left off.

"Guess who~!" Chimed Miyako's voice, sliding open the door. "Oh, you're studying, sorry."

"I said Ruki-san might be studying..." came Ken's voice,

"That's what I said!" Miyako said cheerfully,

"Heyy, you didn't...!"

"Remember Ken-kun - we've gotta be quiet!" Miyako was flirting now. Ruki had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Ken and Miyako walked into the room, Miyako still grinning mischievously at Ken.

"Miyako-chan... Haha..."

Miyako sighed to herself as she logged herself onto a computer. "Haaah, I've got revision too. Life is not fair! One day I will erase the concept of exams entirely!"

Ken smiled, "And how will you do that?"

"That's easy!" Miyako grinned, standing up, making a victory sign, "I'll become ruler of the world!"

"Oh, so you're going to work on that ambition instead of the one you've had for awhile now?" Despite his serious-sounding voice, he was clearly not being serious.

Miyako giggled as she sat back down, "Well, the Ruler Of The World would have more perks, I reckon!"

"Oh, I can imagine. Something tells me that a lot of concepts that involve you having to work hard would vanish."

"Sometimes, Ken-kun, I think you know me a liiiittle too well!" They both started laughing.

At that point, Koushirou walked in. "Oh, hi guys. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Miyako narrowed her eyes, "What the heck are you talking about, Koushirou-sempai?"

Once again, the door slid open, 'Oh great, what now?' Ruki though impatiently. She'd thought she'd be able to study quietly. But then she realised that was probably a stupid idea – this was where Miyako hung out after all.

A girl entered the room. As soon as she entered, tension filled the room. She had mousy brown hair that came down to her shoulders, and hazel eyes. She wore a pale blue cardigan over a thin pink jumper, and a pale pink knee-length skirt. Ruki didn't recognise her. The girl looked cross and yet a little nervous. She looked straight at Miyako. She thrust a letter at her, "This is for you." she said curtly. Miyako crossed one leg over the other, folded her arms and said,

"Do you think I'm taking that?"

"You ignored our last one." The girl said sourly. Ken stood up and spoke with his usual politeness, but he was clearly concealing anger to the best of his ability. Ruki had never seen him like that before.

"Give that here, Maiko-san."

The girl clutched it, blushing, "Ah! Ken-sama-! Ken-san! I'm sorry... It's private. Me and Miyako-chan have a... project... right, Miyako-chan?"

Miyako, clearly surprised, and deeply touched over Ken's reaction, was brought back to reality. She looked at the celing, sarcasm entering her voice as she said, "Yeah, you wish! Oh, by the way, when did I say you could use my first name?"

"Ah! Ugh..." She looked embarrassed now, so she turned to Ken, "K-Ken-san! Please! Miyako-chan is going out with Koushiro-sempai - she's two-timing you! Why do you-?"

"What the-! No we are not!" Koushirou said heatedly. Ken seemed a little angrier now,

"No. No she is not, so kindly stop making up rumours."

Miyako stood up. "I really don't know where you guys get the nerve to just make up stupid rumours like that!" she said angrily, "Seriously, what proof do you have? I can't stand people like you!" She seemed like she'd been wanting to say this for awhile, "Leave me alone!"

Maiko took a step back, "W-Wah! Ken-san! You see! S-She's so mean...!"

Ken smiled politely, "I see perfectly well. Couldn't see it any better. Now..."

The girl seemed to look slightly relieved - until Ken said, "...You can leave." He put emphasis on the word "leave".

The girl looked very upset. She took another couple of steps backwards, "Y-You...! Oh Ken-san! How could you?" she turned, and ran out the computer room, sliding the door shut loudly as she left. The tension seemed to leave with her. Koushirou sat back down.

"Why are they always like that?" He muttered. Ruki, who realised she'd been watching the whole scene intently, looked back at her text book.

"...Sorry about that, Miyako-chan." Ken almost whispered.

Miyako shook her head, "N-no!" She smiled, "It's their fault for being so... Well, you know."

Ken smiled, "Yeah." The bell rang. Everyone looked startled. Ruki put her text book away, 'I'm never gonna make any progress if I keep trying to study here...' she thought. Miyako logged off and picked up her bag. Despite having just dealt with an obsessive fangirl, she seemed pretty happy. Almost smug, "Well, see you later, Ken-kun, Ruki-chan, Koushirou-sempai! Oh, Ken-kun, I'm meeting Hikari-chan after school so I can't walk home – see you tomorrow!"

She then glanced at Ruki and laughed, "Oh, in case you can't tell, I know the lovely _Maiko-chan _there very well. I do have a right to dislike her."

Ruki looked surprised, "...Heh. I can see that."

Miyako made a thumbs up at her, then walked away.

"Ahaha, Miyako-chan... She never changes." Ken said, still smiling.

"That's not a bad thing, is it?" Ruki wasn't paying much attention as she said this, instead she concentrated on putting her things away.

"Eh? Well, no, not at all. Well, not always..." He trailed off, glancing at Koushirou-sempai.

Koushirou-sempai seemed to understand the reason for this, "Oh... Ken-kun, it was a long time ago, don't worry about it!"

Ruki was confused. '...No I'm not. Because I'm not involved, and I don't care. It's none of my business.' And with that reminder, Ruki walked out the room, leaving behind a slightly confused Ken and Koushirou.

Once Ruki arrived at her class, she set down her bag on her desk, and began getting her books out.

"Hey." She heard someone say quietly. She turned to the desk behind her, it was Ryou. She ignored him, and continued to get her books out, "Listen, Ruki. We've got a "pop quiz" today. Just giving you a warning." He turned to let Takato, who'd just entered, know as well.

"How do you know?" Ruki asked him, not turning to face him, as she was still going through her bag.

Ryou didn't turn to face her either. "Oh, I'm almost certain I saw it on Katou-sensei's desk."

"What if you're mistaken?"

Ryou shrugged, "At least everyone would be prepared if there was one! Besides, what if I'm right?"

Ruki shrugged, "You were right. Want us to celebrate or something?"

"Well... Now you mention it... Heh, just kidding. Oh, Ruki-"

Jenrya entered, "Oh, Jenrya-kun! We've got a pop quiz..."

After nearly the whole class finding out, Katou-sensei walked in, looking tired, "Afternoon everyone! Today, I have a little something..." She opened a desk, and began looking through it.

Ruki envisioned Katou-sensei pulling out some other sort of work resulting in Ryou being wrong. Even though she didn't care really, she couldn't help but like the idea of that. But, fate wasn't in the mood to pull something amusing.

"...Namely a pop quiz!" To Katou-sensei's surprise, nobody seemed bothered, considering they'd flicked through their text books before she's entered, thanks to Ryou's warning, "Oh... You are a strange class. Oh well, it's a nice change, I suppose we'd better have these more often huh?"

Everyone groaned. Katou-sensei seemed not to notice. They all glared at Ryou, who was scratching the back of his head. "Heh... Sorry everyone! Well, at least we were prepared for this test!"

Ruki felt a sort of satisfaction. It must've shown on her face, since Ryou narrowed his eyes at her. She glared back, then turned her head away, 'He's not worth my time.' she told herself.

Junpei stood up quickly, "Katou-sensei! Ryou-san told us all so we weren't surprised! Please don't set us many-!"

One of Ryou's fangirls stood up, "No, Katou-sensei! Ryou-sam-! Ryou-san would never do something like that! Junpei-san is just covering up for himself-!"

Now, Ryou stood up abruptly, "Don't defend me." he said very quietly, then spoke louder, "Sorry Katou-sensei, I did know, it's my fault... Don't punish them with more tests..." he grinned a little now, "I'm pretty sure no class like these tests."

'Oh, the great, noble pretty boy.' Ruki thought to herself sarcastically, '...but now I think of it, he's acting a little different...' Ruki wasn't sure if she was mistaken or not. Maybe the injury was infected causing Ryou to act more... mature, almost?

Katou-sensei glanced around at everyone, looking confused, "Um... Okay... Well... Ryou-kun, as glad as I am you've been so honest..."

"...Detention, sensei?" Ryou sounded unsurprised.

"Erm... No, just don't go telling other teachers I let you off the hook, okay? Oh, and don't do it again, of course." Katou-sensei said sweetly.

Ryou nodded, now looking surprised, "T-Thanks!"

And so, they started the test.

When the lesson finally ended, and the bell sounded, Hirokazu stood up, stretched, then walked over to Takato, Juri, Ryou and Jenrya, who were all standing together, talking. Kenta trailed a little behind him, "Jeez! That was a pain! Well, thanks for tipping us off Ryou-san!"

Ryou nodded, "How'd you do?"

Hirokazu scratched the back of his head, "I-I aced it of course!" Kenta glanced away, clearly trying not to laugh.

Takato looked at Hirokazu, "Seriously...?"

"Takato! What's that supposed to mean!" He sounded defensive. He paused. Everyone stared at him until he cracked, "Ahhh fine! I did the same as normal!" he looked away from the all, pouting. Then he grinned. "But I can still kick your asses at the Digimon card game..! Oh...Ryou-san..."

Ryou shrugged and laughed, as did Juri, Takato and Jenrya.

"But I don't play it." She said.

"You don't count then!"

"Katou-san! I-I'd teach you sometime!" Takato stuttered.

Juri smiled, "Haha, don't worry, it's fun watching you guys play it."

Jenrya waved a hand, "I don't really play either. You're really just referring to Takato and Kenta here."

"H-Hey, I can beat more than two people...!" Hirokazu exclaimed loudly, waving his hands.

The others laughed again. At that point, Akaya and Miki walked over. Akaya and Hirokazu glanced at one another, then looked away.

"Juri-chan! You ready to leave?" Ayaka asked.

Juri turned and nodded, "Yeah." She turned back to everyone else, "See you guys tomorrow!" With that, she left.

Ruki, who had taken some time to do some of her homework, put her things away, and walked out the room.

She heard Ryou sigh, "Oh, looks like I'm leaving. See you guys!"

'Oh great. Stuck with him after all. Looks like I won't be going to that place today...'

She felt a tap on her shoulder, "Hey." Ryou said simply. He sounded kinda awkward, which was really odd. Ruki almost felt worried. She carried on walking, and out into the playground. Ryou walked beside her, "Bit quiet today, huh?"

Ruki shrugged.

"Your refusal to reply using words supports my statement." Ryou said cheekily. That was a little more like it. Ruki rolled her eyes at him.

They reached the gates, when Ruki finally said,"...You're the one who's acting differently. Are you sure that injury of yours isn't infected and causing a personality change?"

Ryou raised an eyebrow, "Uhh... Yes? It's not as if I'm not normally more relaxed than flirty, you know. Unless you miss that, of course."

"Yeah, you wish. But no, that wasn't what I meant... You're treating me kinda differently."

He grinned a little now, "So you _do_ miss me acting like that?"

Ruki glared, "Hmph. No. But still, has something happened since that... "sharp rock" incident or whatever?"

Ryou laughed, "Yeah, probaly." was all he said.

"...Well?"

"Well what?"

Ruki sighed, "Don't play dumb, what happened? How did you get that wound? There's no way you tripped and got something so serious, I don't know how Izumi-san could stand lecturing you."

Ryou had a faraway expression on his face, "...I can't say where I got the wound... But I realised. I'm not really like that. I'll admit..." he gave her a sidelong glance, grinning a little, "...I like teasing you..." Ruki glared, and Ryou looked up at the sky, his grin fading, "...and I can be like that sometimes, but the more I'm like that, the more difficult some things in the future will be. I kinda have to stop hiding behind that act so much. I guess, I've gotta start facing up to things, and in doing that, I've really gotta be myself."

"Ryou... Hmph. Within the space of two nights, you decide to change so fast?" She paused, "And it's gonna be really easy, from the sound of it?"

Ryou chuckled, "Yup. Hey, my liking for teasing you will always remain genuine, that I promise." he winked.

Ruki looked in the opposite direction, "Okay, maybe you haven't changed at all..."

When they reached the fork in the road, Ryou asked, "What about you? Why are you acting so differently?"

"I'm always like this." she replied simply.

"Hm... Well, if you're really sure about that, Ruki."

"Of course I am." And with that, Ruki turned on her heel and left Ryou standing there. Ryou stared after her for a short moment, shrugged and headed off in the opposite direction.

When Ruki got back home, she put down her bag, took off her shoes, and stretched.

"This is a real pain." she said to herself.

Her mum walked over,

"Ruki-chan! I've got ingredients for yakisoba! Want to help?" Ruki looked at the ground. She remembered the times when she was younger, when she and her mum would make yakisoba together, and, when he was still there, her dad also.' She nodded, without looking at her mum. Her mum beamed at Ruki, then walked into the kitchen.

'Ugh, can't believe I'm doing this...' Ruki thought, as she trailed into the kitchen after her mother. Her stomach rumbled, 'I'm just hungry, that's all.' she told herself.

~Revised: There was an old note here talking about how this story would be my main priority within my fanfics, but I don't know if I can keep that promise so much anymore. There're lots of fanfics I'd like to create, but this still means a lot (Hence I'm spending so much time revising it!) and I still wish to write more chapters of this, but I would like to be writing/updating other stories, maybe within the time I'm still editing these chapters. That and I have college, so yeah... Otherwise, updated this chapter! Quite a lot changed, hope you all enjoyed it!~


	13. The twentieth day

~REVISED~

[OLD NOTE]: For the record, I couldn't find the name of the PE teacher so her name is "Terada-sensei" from here on out~ ^^

/

Ruki opened her eyes blearily. She'd had a strange dream and yet, she couldn't remember what that dream had been.

"Oh whatever." she mumbled, standing up. It was Friday. Ruki felt relaxed about this. Until she remembered they had exams the following week, "Oh great..."

15 minutes later she was downstairs, cooking breakfast. Her mum was nowhere to be seen. Once Ruki had set down her breakfast on the table and begun eating, her mum walked in, "Ruki-chan, morning!" She yawned, "Aww, you're amazing, getting up so early, and having the energy to make all that..."

Ruki ignored her, and carried on eating. Her mum walked into the hallway, and came back with a newspaper. She opened it, and exclaimed, "Oh! There's...! There's another article on... the incident... your father was..."

Ruki stood up, "I'm finished. Bye." She walked over to the door, picked up her bag, and shut the door quickly behind her, 'That was ages ago! Why go on about it now!' It'd been so long since she'd thought about the whole ordeal in detail. She sighed loudly and began walking. As expected, Ryou was coming up from the other pathway that lead to his street.

He waved, "Mornin', Ruuki!" he called.

"Doesn't sound like you've changed." Ruki called back, not bothering to wait for him.

"I'm in a good mood today! No harm in me acting happy, right?"

"Yes, there is."

"Sure there is. Oh, by the way, Ruki-"

"Ow!" A little girl with brown hair in pig tails tied up by bows, a red one piece dress with a pale pink top underneath had run right into Ryou's leg, interrupting him, and was now sitting on the ground, rubbing her eyes.

A little boy ran over to her. He had the same colour hair, short and messy. He was wearing blue dungarees' with a pale green top on. He pointed at the girl laughing, "Hahaha! Ai! Silly!"

The little girl stood up immediately, indignant, "I'm not silly! You tripped over and cried when we went to the dentists!"

The boy stamped his foot, "I did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did-!"

A middle-aged man ran over to the arguing children, "You two! What're you-?" He noticed Ryou and Ruki standing there, completely confused. He bowed to them, "I'm very sorry! You two, pay attention to where you're running!"

Ruki said nothing. Ryou shook his head, "Its okay, Koga-san!" he seemed amused.

The man looked surprised, then seemed to realise who Ryou was, "Ryou-san? Aren't you supposed to...?"

Ryou shook his head quickly, "I-I attend school now!"

"But, I saw you..."

Ryou got out his phone, checking the time, then said hurriedly, "Ah, we're gonna be late. Nice to catch up, Koga-san! See you!" He walked away quickly, Ruki walking more slowly behind him.

"What was that about?" Ruki asked.

Ryou paused, "Nothing. Um... Koga-san used to be friends with my dad."

""I attend school now"?" Ruki repeated.

For once, Ryou stopped. He seemed to be speechless for a few seconds, "...It doesn't matter, okay?" despite sounding calm, Ruki couldn't see his expression, "We're late for school now..."

Ruki raised an eyebrow. She got out her phone, "...We're actually early." she said, amusement entering her voice.

"Well, we'd better stay like that instead of standing around talking, huh?" Ryou suggested mildly, and began walking again. Ruki folded her arms, and began walking. She wasn't going to walk next to him though, 'He's... surprisingly stubborn...' She almost laughed at this thought.

They walked in silence. Ruki got out her ear phones and mp3 player, and began listening to music, 'Way better than pretty boy's prattling.' When they arrived, Ruki took her ear phones out and placed them back in her bag. The bell sounded, causing Ruki to look up, surprised, 'But... We were early...'

Ryou turned to face her, grinning, "Early, you said?"

"On time. What's the difference?" She shot back. She made a mental note to adjust her phone's clock.

"You were still wrong~" He replied, his arms folded behind his head. He turned quickly, and walked to class. Ruki was certain he was grinning, 'Hmph! Whatever! I bet I've beaten him in our quiz anyway.'

Ruki felt tired again as she entered class, 'It's Friday...' she told herself, relieved. She walked over to her desk, about to sit down when-

"English first... How fun..." Jenrya muttered.

Ruki looked to her right and shrugged, "Mid-terms are next week which is gonna be worse."

Jenrya smiled a little, "Yeah... I guess. But we've got to deal with today, so, good luck to us both huh?" Ruki looked down at her bag and began rummaging through it, until she found her books. She set them on her desk. As she did so, Jenrya asked, "Have you thought about what you wanna do in the future at all?" Ruki shrugged, 'What? N-No... Has he? Oh. Wait, I don't care.'

Nonetheless, she replied, shockingly. "No. I don't want to."

Jenrya nodded, "Fair enough. I don't know anyone who's started thinking about it. There's so much to consider..."

"You really think about the future, huh?" Jenrya was such a calm and mature person, Ruki felt slightly jealous. As if he could take everything in his stride, and see the world without feeling angry or upset at all. 'Well, I'm sure he has his bad side...' she sighed very quietly, 'I've really gotta stop thinking about this sort of thing so much.'

"...Not that I've really thought too much about it. But I'm still kinda worried, I guess."

Ruki shrugged, "We've got 3 or 4 years 'till that..." 'Don't make me feel like I've gotta think about it.' was Ruki's exasperated thought.

Thankfully, Katou-sensei walked in and everyone took their seats, meaning Jenrya and Ruki's conversation was over.

"Morning everyone." she said cheerfully, setting her bag down on her desk, "Um... English right? Ha ha, I'm so scatter-brained..." she got out a pen, and began scribbling many different romanised letters with some questions in Japanese next to them. At the end of this boring exercise accompanied by quite a few more, the bell sounded.

As it did, Katou-sensei waved a hand, "Oh yes! Your scores... In 4th place was Ruki-kun, 3rd was Ryou-kun, 2nd was Alice-kun, and 1st was Jenrya-kun. Well done you guys! But everyone did well." She smiled,

'He beat me? Ruki thought indignantly, 'He's an ignorant pretty boy! How could he have-? Oh, what do I care? Alice and Jenrya beat him, he can't be too smug.' Although Ruki was starting to wonder about Alice's apparent "emotional inhibitor" and her ability to still be able to do school work.

Next was second lesson. As Ruki walked, she heard a stern voice say "Makino-kun!" from behind her. She stopped and turned, despite the many students walking that way. It was her PE teacher, Terada-sensei, 'Oh no... I didn't...'

"Makino-kun, I said you had a _detention_ yesterday! Where were you?"

"I..." Ruki thought of what to say, but in the end decided to say nothing. She wasn't going to desperately scramble for an answer, she'd simply forgot.

"Hm. I see. Well, I suppose you'll be spending both break and lunch with me. Be at my office at the start of both, Makino-kun." She then strode past Ruki briskly.

Ruki made a small sighing motion, turned, and was just about to walk when she heard Ryou say surprised, "You got a detention...? Why didn't you give her an excuse?"

Ruki looked at him with narrowed eyes. "We're not all great liars like you, pretty boy."

There weren't many students in the hallway now, "I never speak anything but the truth!" Ryou said, laying his hand dramatically across his chest. Ruki only stared at him with one eyebrow raised until he began staring at the floor and put both hands in his pockets,

"Okay... you got me... that was a lie..." He looked at her, "But that was honesty! I am totally trustworthy!" He was laughing now.

Ruki felt the odd urge to laugh at how he was acting. 'Oh, yeah, you've totally changed.'

She rolled her eyes at him and was about to walk away when he continued talking seriously, "But seriously... You don't deserve a detention, why didn't you tell her-?"

"So you wouldn't have minded if I'd told her about you coming into school with some deep cut which was hardly doing you any favours?" Ruki enjoyed watching Ryou struggle to answer.

"...Sorry... Thanks, Ruki."

Ruki shrugged in reply, feeling a little awkward. He didn't have to sound quite so... serious. "I-It doesn't matter! I don't ever really have much to do at break and lunch anyway so-"

She knew she shouldn't have told him that. He was grinning at her now. This guy's expression/mood swings were always a little confusing.

"I'll keep that in mind~"

Ruki suppressed a loud sigh.

"Hm, but still, it's not fair I've gotten you into trouble... I know! I'll accompany you to your detention!"

"No way." Ruki shot this idea down immediately. At least during detentions she could escape from his... weird-ness. She decided to leave it at that and began walking the way she had initially been going. She heard Ryou's footsteps behind her. It then occurred to Ruki that she couldn't remember what lesson she had now.

She stopped and got out her timetable, "Its maths now." Ryou said simply, walking past her.

She put her timetable away quickly, "I knew that! I was just making sure."

"If you say so." he replied, amusement entering his voice.

Ruki walked past him quickly, "I suppose I _could _mention your little injury-thing to Terada-sensei to get myself out of it..." Whilst Ruki knew she wouldn't, she wanted to scare smug pretty boy there at least a little. Ryou simply didn't reply, and so Ruki felt she'd won their little battle of words here.

'...Seriously, what am I saying...?'

They were now half-way across the school-grounds. Ryou had stayed quiet, until he said slyly, "I can spread rumours myself y'know... Wild Cat~"

She shook her head, "Whatever. It's probably only a matter of time before Izumi-san and the others say anything to anyone." she told him.

"Oh, they really won't say anything."

"What makes you so sure?"

Ryou's annoying grin had managed to surface once again, "I swore them to secrecy~"

Ruki wasn't even going to ask. "...Sure."

When they arrived at maths and took their seats, Takato walked passed and smiled at Ruki awkwardly, "Hi."

"Hi."

"H-Hey, have you got the answers to the homework? I kinda didn't get round to it"

"Why don't you ask Jenrya-san or Juri-san?" Ruki suggested.

Takato looked a little perplexed, "I would but... They're not here.."

Ruki looked around. He was right, "Odd..." she whispered,

"Yeah...so... Have you got the ans-?" Katou-sensei entered, interrupting Takato.

"I'm so sorry I'm a late! The bell has gone, hasn't it?" She checked her watch and sighed, "Yes..." She saw Takato stood up and speaking to Ruki, "Um... Takato-kun, could you return to your seat please?"

Takato nodded, "Y-yes Sensei!" He quickly returned to his seat.

"Oh thanks goodness the maths equipment is already set out here..." Katou-sensei began roll call.

When she reached Juri's name, she paused, "Eh? But, she was here this morning..." Everyone turned their heads. She was right. At the end of roll call, it was determined that Jenrya, Juri and Alice weren't there. Katou-sensei looked a little worried. Ruki suppressed her curiosity with a thought that went something along the lines of: 'they're all fine... probably...Let's just get on with the lesson...'

Katou-sensei looked a little lost, until she heard Junpei talking loudly to the boy next to him, "Oh, right maths, very sorry, everyone! Oh, I'm being such a bad teacher..."

She began writing some complicated algebra on the board. After 20 minutes of a lecture, 10 questions were written on the board.

Ruki wrote the first down, and was about to answer when the door slid open, "I'm sorry!" Jenrya said loudly, "Alice-san collapsed and..."

Katou-sensei, who had been helping one student, looked at Jenrya, "O-oh I see! Hm... Well, I'd better mark you present. Um... Do you know where Juri-?"

"Here." Juri said quickly, from behind Jenrya. The two entered and took their seats hurriedly, Juri to the right of Takato, and Jenrya to the left. Ruki saw Takato whisper something to Juri, then to Jenrya. Jenrya whispered something back; Takato nodded, and putting a stop to all that was Katou-sensei clearing her throat, "Well, um...ah, yes." She resumed her previous position: helping the boy in the middle of the classroom.

When the bell rang, the class filed out immediately so as to gather round Jenrya and Juri and ask them what happened. Juri was looking at the ground as Jenrya explained quickly.

"Alice-san collapsed whilst we were walking here... so, Juri went to the nurse's office, and I had to help her keep herself on her feet... It was pretty scary..."

Ruki walked past, ignoring the conversation that was keeping the whole class enthralled.

Juri dashed forward, "Ah! Ruki-chan! Um..." She began whispering in Ruki's ear, "Alice-san mentioned your name just before she passed out... and something else, but I couldn't work it out, but still... it's weird..." She took a step back, a curious expression on her face. Many of the other kids were watching them both with equally curious expressions on their faces.

Ruki wasn't fazed, but Juri waved her hands at them, "H-Hey! It's nothing important! Eheh..." She turned back to Ruki, and asked quietly, "Are you sure you two have never met?"

"I'm sure." Ruki replied. As much as her 'Don't get involved' senses were tingling, her confusion was getting to her.

Jenrya walked over to Juri, "What is it?"

Juri shook her head, "Nothing! I'll explain later..."

Takato walked over, "Katou-san, is everything alright?" Juri nodded quickly but Takato didn't look convinced.

"What's going on here?" Katou-sensei way out the door was blocked by them all. She seemed very surprised at everyone gathered round. They group broke up quickly as a lot of the kids sped away, although a few of them gave Juri a confused look.

It was then Ruki realised she was still standing there. She turned quickly, and carried on walking down the hall toward the gym changing rooms. As she did she heard Hirokazu's voice echo down the hall (He, alongside Takato, Juri and Jenrya hadn't left yet)

"Hey! Eh? Where's Ryou-san?"

"Oh, he's... Uh..." Takato sounded a little confused.

"Come to think of it, he kinda vanished when the bell rang." Jenrya sounded puzzled.

It occurred to Ruki as well; where had that odd, Pretty Boy gone? As she reached the PE office she sighed quietly, and knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

Ruki opened the door and found Terada-sensei talking quietly with another teacher.

"Oh, Makino-kun, it's nice of you to show up. Please go sit in the changing rooms." Which is what Ruki did. After sitting down and setting her bag down on the ground, she leant against the wall and closed her eyes, 'Ugh... This is all Pretty Boy's fault...'

She heard a chair scrape, and looked up. Terada-sensei was walking out of the office, "Makino-kun." She said sternly. Ruki said nothing. Terada-sensei seemed hesitant for some reason, "Are you friends with Mcoy Alice?"

Ruki was puzzled, "She's in my class..."

The teacher sighed, "I see." She was about to go back into her office, when Ruki couldn't help but ask,

"Why?" This question was fuelled by Ruki's weird feeling of "Why do people keep asking my if I'm friends with that girl?"

Terada-sensei looked surprised, "I don't think it's your place to ask." She told her, her stern voice returning.

Ruki couldn't help but feel annoyed at that, however there was no point in arguing. She already had detention and this most probably didn't look good to the school, despite her supposedly good grades. That and her mum would probably be mad at her. 'Oh, because I care about that...' She reminded herself.

At that point Ruki heard the PE office door being opened from the other side, "Sensei!" Ryou's voice sounded. "Sensei! It's my fault Ruki was late that day! So... uh, can she please not have a detention?"

"Akiyama-kun... You could've gone through the girls changing rooms, you know, there aren't any girls here. Well, normal ones." Whilst Ruki couldn't see Terada-sensei, she felt almost certain that was supposed to be aimed at her. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel. 'I'm not too sure I _want _to be considered a "normal girl", thanks.' Was her heated thought. She almost felt like walking in and telling Terada-sensei that, but instead decided on listening to what Ryou would say.

"Anyway, what proof do you have that Makino-kun wasn't just cutting class?" Terada-sensei asked.

"Well... I had a kinda bad injury, and Ruki helped me to the nurse's office..."

The teacher sniffed, "You don't seem that badly hurt."

"Um... Just ask the Nurse..."

"I'd just be wasting my time, I bet." Terada-sensei replied.

"But you don't know for sure Sensei. I could go get the nurse-!"

"She'll be busy. As am I, Akiyama-kun. You can go now."

"Sensei, it really is my fault that Ruki is here. Cant she just-?"

Ruki decided to put a stop to this. "Ryou! Yeah, I am here! And I don't know why you're so bugged by this! It's only for today. It might be your fault, but it really doesn't matter. I told you...!" She called out.

Thankfully, the bell rang, effectively ending this awkward situation.

"Go on then. See you at lunch, Makino-kun." Terada-sensei said loudly, putting emphasise on Ruki's name.

Ryou met Ruki just outside the girl's changing rooms.

"Stupid teacher..." Ryou muttered.

Ruki shrugged, "Look, Ryou, it's really fine. I don't care, I told you so earlier. She clearly doesn't like me anyway; she'll have found some other reason to give me a detention eventually. That and I don't have anywhere to be, honestly Ryou, it really doesn't matter."

Ryou looked thoughtful, "Well... Why don't you hang out with me sometime? At lunch, I mean."

"Pretty Boy and his rabid fangirls? No thanks." They walked to their next lesson together.

"Aw... Hime... Haha, well, if it's my sort-of-friends there that get to you, I could give them the slip one day... I've done it before."

"How'd you do _that?_" Ruki sounded a little surprised.

"Simple! I tell them I'll be somewhere, and then don't show up; hide elsewhere. I only do it on days when I really don't feel like hanging out with them. Which, honestly, isn't very often at all, they're friends of mine after all."

"You're a nice friend." Ruki replied with a tone that didn't sound particularly earnest.

"I could say the same thing to you in that same way!"

"Who says I'm the friend of anyone?"

Ryou shrugged, "If that's how you see it~" He didn't sound convinced. That bugged Ruki just a bit, but she decided to ignore that.

"Uh-huh... Where do you hide then?"

"Oh, Takato-kun and Hirokazu-kun hide me in that little place where they play the Digimon card game..."

Ruki blinked, "...Hirokazu is better than a fangirl?"

Ryou chuckled, "Well, normally, he's in the middle of a game with Takato, and therefore can't pester me for a game."

"What would be the problem though? I seem to recall some people referring to you as the "Digimon King", I'm sure you'd be able to handle him?"

"Yeah, I guess, but people make such a fuss about the whole thing, it's embarrassing, makes me feel like not playing the game with anyone... Actually, I haven't really played it in awhile." He looked nostalgic as he said the last part.

Ruki was more surprised at the first part of what he'd said, "You... Have a modest side?"

"Of course I do! Did you think I was really arrogant or something?"

Ruki couldn't look at him now. She had to stop herself from smirking.

"You... You did! Hey, Ruuki, I'm not _that_ bad! Honest!" Ryou sounded shocked.

"Well, it was difficult for me not to! The whole surrounded-by-fangirls thing not to mention the cocky attitude!"

"Yeah but-! You know what I said about all that...!" Ryou sounded a little heated now.

Ruki was starting to feel a little guilty now. Maybe she was mistaken about Ryou. 'D-Does he really have to seem so... upset?'

"...L-Look, I didn't mean..." Ruki trailed off.

Ryou saw how she felt and shook his head, "N-No... I-I can't blame you for seeing me like that really..."

She looked away from him, "Well, yeah! You really did seem like that. Actually, you still kinda do..."

Ryou looked downcast, "W-Well then, that's good to know..."

They walked on in very awkward silence. Their obvious annoyance with one another and resolve to not apologise for upsetting the other was very much apparent.

They arrived at the classroom, still without saying anything. Ruki was annoyed. She hadn't done anything wrong, it was Ryou who...! She couldn't think of quite what he'd done, either. She wasn't entirely sure why they were suddenly like this. Not even Ryou was making a joke, or rising above the situation. 'Maybe he really isn't that arrogant...'

Ryou caught Ruki's eye for a brief moment then went to take his seat. Ruki decided to pretend he didn't exist for awhile, still unsure why they were mad at each other, at this point. As she took her seat, "Wan!" came Juri's puppet voice. Ruki looked up at Juri who was standing by her desk now.

"So, uh..." Juri began, "Did you visit Alice-san?"

"I had detention." Ruki told her, 'And besides, why should I visit her? So she said my name, people say weird things in their sleep all the time...' She added silently.

Juri looked surprised, "Detention? O-Oh! Y-You were late, huh? I see... Well, try visiting her sometime. I know it doesn't seem that big-a deal but... She's said it before, it's just kinda strange... Well, anyway, I have to tell you, I'm so happy! My older brother is coming to stay for a while!" Ruki didn't show much of a reaction but Juri didn't seem to notice. She was in her own world, beaming at this thought, "I mean, he's not actually my older brother, but it feels like that! He already told me I'm just like a little sister to him! He... He forgave my dad for replacing his dad pretty quickly... I really admire that..."

At that moment, as if fate wanted to make some kind of point, Katou-sensei walked in, and Juri went back to her seat quickly.

Katou-sensei hesitated, and then cleared her throat, "Okay everyone! Uh... It's Japanese now, if I'm not mistaken?" She walked over to her desk, and began roll call...

When Ruki got over the next two hurdles, and the lunch bell rang, she walked over to the PE office. She put a hand on the door, and was about to open it, when Ryou tapped her on the shoulder, "Hey... Ruki..." She paused, then turned to him, but decidedly didn't meet his eyes.

"What?"

"...About earlier... It doesn't matter how you saw me, okay? I just didn't want you to think of me that way. As long as you know now that's not how I am..."

It took Ruki a moment to reply, "...I know you're not. You can just act that way, is all, but you're not... Yeah, I get it..."

Ryou sighed and shook his head, "Question is... Why did we get so mad at each other about it?" A smile was slowly but surely appearing.

Ruki almost felt like returning it, "Because you were being arrogant."

Ryou folded his arms and looked deliberately depressed, though he knew she was kidding. "...Eheh, anyway... Jeez, I still feel bad for getting you into trouble you know..."

"I must have told you a million times Ryou, I really don't care." She replied, exasperation now entering her voice.

Ryou looked away, "...Okay... But I'm still going to make it up to you, sometime." Ruki had no reply to this, and walked into the changing rooms.

She was greeted by Terada-sensei, "Makino-kun... Good. I'm glad you've got at least some small ability to be on time." She was about to walk away when she noticed Ryou outside the door, "Akiyama-kun. You know you shouldn't be here." Ryou shrugged, and left, but not before saying something odd:

"Oh, by the way, Terada-sensei, I don't know quite what your earlier comment of a "normal girl" was supposed to mean, I thought it was kinda stupid really, but Ruki is Ruki. That's all there is to it, okay?" Ruki's eyes widened. Despite feeling kind of glad he'd said it, why did it have to be _him _of all people?

As Ryou walked away, Terada-sensei inquired icily, "Your boyfriend there seemed pretty annoyed."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Ruki said sharply, but then realised she probably shouldn't have said it like that. Terada-sensei only gave her a look, then when back to her seat. Ruki sat down in the girl's changing rooms, just like earlier. Only this time she had a whole hour.

Ruki sat down, thinking about what Ryou had said, and how glad she'd felt. 'But I don't want him talking for me, it's not as if he has any real clue about me..." But then again, how could Ruki have told Terada-sensei something similar to what Ryou had said without getting into more trouble?

Miraculously, the hour passed relatively quickly. She hurried over to her final lesson - science. Alice was leaning against the wall near the classroom entrance, her back to Ruki. Ruki couldn't help but wondering if Alice still lived with her scary-sounding-scientist father?

She walked past Alice, without looking at her, "R-Ruki-san..?" Alice began. Ruki nodded, and continued on her way into the room, "Wait..." Alice pushed herself of the wall, "Ruki-san. T-That's rude... Wait..."

"...Eh?" Ruki stopped to stare at Alice.

"There. Thank you for... waiting..." Was that some sort of _smug _expression on Alice's face?

"W-What?"

"Ruki... Do you understand... friendship? To care for... others? She wanted me to... ask..."

Ruki was completely bewildered, "What...? Who...?"

This extremely strange moment was interrupted by Ryou and Jenrya leaning out of the classroom door to see who was there, "Yo!" Ryou said simply, and Jenrya smiled.

They went back in. Using this as an escape route, Ruki went into the classroom fast, 'Yet another really weird encounter... How many is that now...?' She asked herself.

Ruki didn't feel like acknowledging Ryou again for that lesson. She couldn't help but still feel a bit annoyed at him, especially after what he'd said to Terada-sensei. It didn't matter how similar her feelings were about it, he didn't need to voice them for her! That and the concept of Ryou not being there seemed a much better alternative anyway.

Eventually the bell rang. Luckily it was only a half day next day. Ruki decided to skip the secret place today. As she walked down the normal path, she got a drink out of her bag.

"Ohh, walking the same way, are we?" Ryou asked sweetly, not walking far behind her.

Ruki took a gulp of water and then put the bottle away, "Yeah...?" Unsure of what he was talking about.

Ryou scratched the back of his head, "Almost another week gone, huh? So, how's it been going for you? The whole "new kid" thing?" He was walking beside her now.

Ruki shrugged. "You see me every day, you tell me?"

"Well, you'd never guess that me and Takeru-kun were newbies here once, huh?"

"Takeru-san I knew about, but you were new here? You haven't lived here all your life then...?"

"Pretty much! It was a pretty good first day, actually... Well... at the school, at least..." He looked up at the sky, as if he didn't want Ruki to see his expression.

Ruki was silent, but looked questioningly at him. He looked back to her, smiling wryly.

"How long ago?" She asked.

"Hmm... Five years I think."

"Five years..." Ruki repeated to herself quietly, sadness entering her voice.

They both walked for awhile, lost in their thoughts, until Ryou piped up, "Y-Yeah, five years." The strange thing was, there was an element of guilt in his voice as he said that.

This snapped Ruki out of her thoughts, "Uh-huh..." Despite forgetting her earlier annoyance with Ryou, (In fact, she'd decided to let her go. Didn't want him to know she was thinking about what he'd said and all) she wasn't able to think of any sort of sarcastic response. As if she suddenly had no energy to really think of one.

A few minutes more of silent walking, and Ryou pointed out the fork in the road, "Well, gotta go! See you tomorrow! Uhh... yeah!" He gave her a brief smile, then began walking his usual way home.

After a couple of steps he stopped, "Uh... Ruki... Five years ago..."

"Yes?" Ruki asked sharply.

Ryou paused, then shook his head, "No, it's nothing..." Ruki stared intently at the ground and carried on walking. Eventually she glanced back in the direction Ryou had gone. He'd begun running.

Ruki shook her head, shrugged, and then entered the house, "Hi, Ruki-chan!" Ruki's mother called from the kitchen, "I've got some of my friend's coming round, so I'm cooking a nice meal! Would you like to join us?"

"No." Was Ruki's monotone reply. As she walked up the stairs to her room, all she could think was: '5 years ago... Weird... I don't want to think about it... I'm not gonna think... Why did dad leave? Why did mom not react when he... died?'

~Revised: Finally! I've added and taken away a (hopefully) balanced amount of dialogue and so on, as well as fixed spelling mistakes/grammar errors, etc. Enjoy! ^^~


	14. The twentyfirst day

~REVISED~

Ruki sat up. She'd had another strange dream that she couldn't quite recall, only fragments. And they were...

As Ruki passed the lounge that morning, she noticed her mom sleeping on the sofa, 'Oh the glamour...' Ruki thought sarcastically, though a part of her felt amused.

Once she'd made breakfast, Ruki sat at the table, picking at it every once in awhile. She didn't feel so hungry that morning,

"Ruki-chan?" Inquired Rumiko, entering the kitchen, "Oh, it _is_ you...I thought I heard..." She shook her head, and smiled, "No, nothing, I'm just being silly..." She walked over to the table, and glanced at the food, "Ruki-chan! You're such a skilled cooker! Mind if I have some?"

Ruki didn't feel like she could eat anymore, so she stood up, "Go ahead. I'm finished anyway." She walked out the room, down the hall to the front door. She picked up her bag, opened the door, and left quickly. When she got to the place where Ryou normally met her, she saw him sitting on the fence, his back to her.

She walked past him, wondering how he'd react,

"Ah! Ruki?"

"Good job of recognition there, Pretty Boy. What're you doing?"

He jumped off the fence, "Memorising something." She gave him an odd look, and he grinned, "Y'know, your face when you discovered I'd beaten you in the qui-"

Ruki glared at him, and carried on walking to school, "Later." She said simply. She wasn't going to give him a response.

Ryou caught up with her quickly, "Ha ha, I'm kidding Ruki. Phew, I hope we don't run into that guy and those kids again from yesterday."

Ruki gave him a suspicious look, "Why?"

Ryou shrugged, "...It was embarrassing."

Ruki raised an eyebrow, "Wow, you embarrassed. Excuse me whilst I memorise such a feat." Ryou laughed at this.

They walked in silence for awhile, until they heard a voice behind them, "Good morning!" They glanced round. A woman wearing the usual police outfit, with dark red hair and equally dark red eyes walked over to them, "I thought that was you, Ryou-kun."

Ryou looked surprised, "Officer Yoshino! What're you doing so early on patrol?"

Yoshino yawned, "I couldn't sleep too well. Oh, Ryou-kun, have you seen the headlines of the papers' recently...?"

For a very split second, Ruki was sure she'd seen Ryou flinch. Just for a second, "N-no... Should I have?" He asked normally.

Yoshino looked sympathetic, and shook her head, "Nah, don't worry about it. Well, I'm off! Bye!" She strode past them, and turned down another road, very quickly seeming to be lost in thought

Ruki paused for a minute and then continued walking. Her mind was racing, 'The accident'

"Wonder what that was about, huh?" Ryou said, beginning to laugh awkwardly.

"...What have you got to do with that accident?"

Ryou looked away for a split second, then back, "I don't know what you're talking about..."

Ruki felt indignant, "Don't play dumb. You-"

They entered the school grounds just as the bell rang.

Ryou glanced around, then scratched the back of his head, "Class now Ruki! Later." Ruki stared after Ryou, who was now running to class, almost as if he was fleeing from something.

Ruki narrowed her eyes, 'Idiot. We're in the same class.' And she began walking in the same direction Ryou was running.

When Ruki arrived, she took her seat and got out her geography books, "Mornin', Ruki-chan!" Juri said cheerfully, walking past to speak to some of her other friends.

"Morning." Ruki said very quietly.

Ryou walked past, apparently engrossed in a conversation with Kenta, "Ryou!" Ruki hissed at him.

He flinched, and carried on walking, causing Kenta to look from Ryou to Ruki and back clearly very confused. Ruki sighed, 'He really thinks he's going to get away from me that easily?'

"Alright class!" Katou-sensei walked in, and the lesson began.

Next was History. Ruki yawned as she walked over to the history building, 'Why can't we just stay in our homeroom?' She thought, annoyed. She spotted Ryou walking past her. She walked quickly toward him, "Ryou! Stop denying it! What do you know?"

Ryou turned to her. He looked very guilty, and seemed to be gaining the determination to stop avoiding her, "Okay, okay. I know it seems like I know something, but I don't. I just... knew some of the people who died in the accident." He seemed to have difficulty saying that.

"Hmph." Was all Ruki could say. She wondered if he knew her father. She was about to ask but realised it was a silly idea - Ryou was the same age as Ruki, he would've been too young. That and Ryou arrived in this town the same year as when her father died, of course he wouldn't have. She thought it was quite a weird coincidence that the years coincided though.

"Ok everyone." Katou-sensei said as they arrived in class, "Luckily, all the text books are already out for me, so let's get started!"

"Why can't we just leave school already?" Ruki heard Junpei whisper loudly to someone from behind her, 'I've gotta agree with him... for once.' She thought idly. She then yawned, and rested her chin on her hand, 'This is going to take a looong time...'

Finally, the bell rang. Ryou left first. Ruki wasn't going to ignore her suspicions and let him get away, "Ryou!" she called when she got outside the classroom.

He stopped, "Yeah?"

She folded her arms, "Are you sure that's all you have to do with the accident?" Ruki couldn't help but feel Ryou wasn't being entirely truthful.

"Didn't I already explain? ...Why do you want to know so much?"

He asked, "None of your business."

Ruki said stubbornly, "Oh really? Well, it's not exactly your business if I had anything to do with the accident then, huh?"

Ruki opened her mouth and hesitated. He had no idea how much of it was actually her business. But at the same time, if she told him her dad had died in that accident then she'd be opening up to him. What did her knowing what one person had to do with the accident change any of the events that happened?

"O-Oh yeah? Well, you're the one who's acting like he's guilty of something!"

"I-I'm not! Anyway..." He glanced at his watch, "Well, anyway, gotta go, Ruuki!"

He walked down the corridor and out of sight. How could Ruki get the information out of him? She wasn't going to tell him anything, so why should he say what he knew? She sighed and began walking over to the computer room. When she got there she found a notice on the door saying the computers where currently getting maintenance checks.

'Where to go...?'

When she reached the playground, she looked around for a free bench. She spotted one on the other side of the playground, and began walking toward it. As she did, she saw Jenrya, Alice, Juri and Takato standing around on the opposite side, talking. This reminded Ruki of the incident with Alice. The odd things Alice had said recently. Something about her name being called and... friendship?

It seemed Ruki had been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed Hikari had sat on the bench, and taken out her lunch. Ruki blinked after realising and was about to turn away when Hikari looked up, "Hey! Makino-san?"

'At least she doesn't think she's my best friend or anything.'

Hikari smiled, "Were you gonna sit on this bench? Sorry~ Well, I guess we can eat together huh? Haven't spoken in a while, right? How's the new kid thing going for you?"

Ruki shrugged, "It doesn't matter." She said quietly.

"Oh, is that right? Well... Okay, if you're sure..." she didn't seem that bothered, and continued to eat her lunch. Ruki could see no other free benches and what with her stomach complaining at her over lack of food, she decided she'd have to sit with this girl she knew very little of.

As she sat down, Hikari laughed a little, "Daisuke-kun and Takeru-kun will be here in awhile, I bet. Just letting you know."

Ruki shrugged, and got out her lunch. What did she care?

Hikari looked uncertain at Ruki's lack of response, "Uh..."

"Hikari-chan!" Someone called from across the playground.

Hikari looked around, and waved, "Daisuke-kun! Takeru-kun! Hey!"

When Daisuke and Takeru joined them, Takeru nodded at Ruki, "Hi, Ruki-san! So, what brings you here?"

Ruki shrugged, "No reason, really."

Hikari and Takeru looked at one another, clearly a little confused.

After a moment Hikari shrugged, "I guess I stole the bench she was gonna sit on by herself... ahah."

Daisuke folded his arms, "Hey, are you ignoring Hikari-chan?" he sounded indignant.

'How about "I don't really want to speak to any of you"?' Ruki thought, equally indignantly.

Hikari waved a hand, "Don't worry, Daisuke-kun. Hey, Takeru-kun, about the homework..."

The bell soon rang. "Oh no..." Hikari stood up, "Ruki-san (She was clearly going to use this now she'd heard someone else use it), you're a grade higher, right? You must have even more difficult lessons then us..."

Takeru nodded in agreement.

"Dont worry Hikari-chan! We'll ace it! ...Somehow!" Daisuke said, grinning, and making a thumbs up.

Hikari giggled a little, "I guess so." She turned to Ruki, "Well, Ruki-san, see you around, I guess!" She waved and then began walking away with Daisuke and Takeru. Ruki's shrug was a bit of a late response, but it didn't matter. 'Time for my next lesson...'

After yet another boring lesson, Ruki walked out of her classroom. She felt so tired, 'Its Sunday tomorrow...' She repeated to herself silently.

"Yeah! I knew it!" Echoed Hirokazu's voice from down the hallway,

"I-I guess..." Takato's voice answered uncertainly. Next minute, Ruki saw Hirokazu sprinting down the hallway toward her, Takato and Kenta trailing slowly behind him. They were clearly bracing themselves for some stupid act of Hirokazu's.

"You _are_ the Digimon Queen! Everyone agrees!" He practically shouted, indicating Takato and Kenta, as if they made up the concept of "everyone".

Ruki narrowed her eyes at him, "This is stupid, use common sense! I've never been here until now, how could I have had a tournament here?"

Kenta shook his head timidly, and said even more timidly, "Y-you were in a tournament in another p-place..."

"And you went against Ryou-san! And he beat y-!"

"I don't know _what_ you guys are going on about." Ruki snapped, "I have no memories of any sort of tournament. You've got the wrong person."

'I'm not the "Digimon Queen" anymore. Although where they've got that idea that I've gone against Ryou before I have no idea...'

"What're you guys talking about?" Ryou was walking toward them now. Hirokazu grinned, "Your battle with Ruki-san here! From that tournament awhile back!"

Ryou shrugged, "You're mixing up memories, haven't met Ruuki before." Why was it that he didn't sound too convinced of his own words?

"See!" Ruki felt almost triumphant, regardless of the tone Ryou had used, "I don't know how you can still be convinced I'm this person when I keep telling you that I don't know anything abou-"

Katou-sensei cleared her throat, "Um... Would you mind not having this rather loud conversation in the hallway? Some people can't get past..."

Ruki, Ryou, Hirokazu, Takato and Kenta jumped out the way immediately.

"Thank you." Katou-sensei smiled warily, and walked down the corridor.

Ruki looked back at Hirokazu and folded her arms, "I'm going to class now. Stop bothering me about your weird take on reality." She walked toward the playground. As she did so, she heard Hirokazu ask Ryou,

"Y-you really don't remember battling her? But you have...! I'm so certain-!"

"Oh? Ruki-san?" Ruki stepped out into the playground, and found Daisuke leaning against the wall on the same side as the door. She said nothing, and carried on walking. "Oi! Don't just walk away!" Daisuke called out crossly.

Ruki stopped, "What do you want?" She asked hotly. She just wanted to eat her lunch in peace.

Daisuke caught up to her, "You play the Digimon card game, right? Well..."

Ruki shook her head, "No! Is there some kind of rumour about me I'm not aware of?"

'I... I wonder where I put my cards?'

Daisuke folded his arms, "Oh, not really...Hey, never mind, have you seen Hikari-chan?"

"Why would I have?"

"Hey!" Hikari called from a little ways away. Daisuke turned around and grinned,

"Hikari-chan! We've got clean-up duty later, right?"

Hikari nodded, "Oh, but...

Takeru-kun isn't able to join us..."

Daisuke, clearly trying to conceal glee at this, scratched the back of his head, "Uh-! I-It's alright, Hikari-chan! We'll be fine!"

Hikari smiled at Ruki, and they were about to walk away when Ken tapped Daisuke's shoulder, "Daisuke-kun. I haven't spoken to you in awhile."

Daisuke turned around, "Ichijouji-kun!" They high fived, "Ya wanna have a match a little later?"

Ken nodded, "Sure."

Hikari seemed pleased at this, "I'll come watch!"

Daisuke turned, a massive grin on his face,

"For real? Yes! You'll cheer me on, right, Hikari-chan?"

Hikari giggled, "I'll cheer you both on!" Ken smiled, and Daisuke looked a little dejected,

"Hikari-chan..."

Ruki felt a bit awkward at this point. She guessed there wasn't really any point in hanging around, she wasn't too sure why she was still within hearing range of this conversation. She decided to just walk away – the thing she should always do.

"Oh, Ichijouji-kun? Will you help me and Daisuke with clean-up duties later?"

"Um... Yes, I guess. Then we can have the match after, right?" was his polite reply.

Ruki kicked a stone as she walked through the playground. Kids of all ages were talking, laughing, playing, 'And here I am... And I'm so bored.'

She stared at the stone she'd just kicked, and stopped. How to kill time?

"Makino-san?" Ruki looked up. Iori was just walking out of the cafeteria,

"Hi." Was all Ruki said,

"What're you doing? ...If you don't mind me asking." Ruki shrugged, "Um... mind if I walk with you?"

"Do what you want." Ruki replied, and carried on walking,

"Uh... Himi-kun and I hang out now... I'm glad I know Himi-kun now but, uh... Well he's kinda... no, never mind, thanks."

"Uh, no problem...?"

"Um, Makino-san... Why you're so..." He seemed unsure of how to finish that sentence.

"So...?" Ruki asked, a little heatedly. She wasn't in the mood for the personality-analysis thing. Not that she ever was.

"N-No... I'm sorry, that was rude. Please ignore what I was saying..."

Ruki felt sort of determined now. If he had something to say, he could say it. She didn't care how young he was, he was clearly far more intelligent than the average kid his age. If people didn't like her then it was just as well – she wanted nothing to do with people."Iori-kun, just tell me, okay?" She immediately regretted saying that. She was continuing some sort of deep conversation with this kid. She really didn't want that.

Iori looked a bit taken aback. "I-I just meant that..." He seemed a little annoyed, though whether it was with her or himself Ruki couldn't tell.

"Maybe if you stopped pushing everyone away and weren't so cold..." It was Izumi, her arms folded, "That's what you were trying to get at, right, Iori-kun?"

Ruki was getting a little annoyed at this point, 'Yeah, I know if I want friends I'll have to act all... No, I don't even want to go there. I-I just...'

"...got it Ruki-chan?" Ruki blinked. She'd obviously missed Izumi's enthralling friendship speech,

"...Whatever." was Ruki's hesitant reply. She was finding it more and more difficult to respond to people when they spoke to her about this sort of stuff, these days.

"Well then! To prove you have learnt from the enthralling friendship speech I just gave, Iori-kun and I will hang out with you until the end of lunch! Ruki-chan, you're so lucky~!"

"...What? Why?" Now Ruki was just plain confused.

"'Cos you're obviously bored!" Well, at least Izumi understood that.

"The end of lunch isn't far off. I won't die of boredom in that time, I promise." Ruki managed to say this quite seriously, somehow, even though she was certain she hadn't meant it to sound like that.

"...I'm sorry, Izumi-san, but I was going to go hang out with some other kids." Iori managed to quietly interject, "Besides, I'm pretty certain it's obvious Ruki-san doesn't want any company. I guess she's just better off like that. Excuse me." He bowed to them quickly and walked away.

"Ah! But...! Iori-kun! Jeez, you're supposed to back me up here!" Iori looked at the floor,

"Sorry...but, I really think it's best." He looked up at Ruki,

"Thanks for fulfilling your promise, Makino-san. I guess that proves you're a good person enough." He turned and walked away toward the field. Ruki was never going to think of Iori as anything other than a "strange kid".

"Jeez... I guess it's just you and me, right Ruki-chan?"

"Why...Why do you act this way around me, and not around everyone else?" Ruki asked. Izumi's constant personality change was starting to get to her. Ruki knew that people acted different around different people, it wasn't a bad thing, but Izumi exaggerated this concept too much.

Izumi's smile looked sad now, "No one would like the real me... E-Even I don't know if I like who I am... Don't you think it would be easier if people didn't judge you? Not for looks or where you've come from or who your friends are? So if I can just be a certain way, then people won't... Ahaha, no, never mind, it's stupid to discuss. It doesn't matter, Ruki-chan, I'm just gonna be how I'm gonna be, I guess!"

Ruki looked away. She found she could half-relate to what Izumi was saying. Only, instead of being someone else, Ruki had decided to push people away entirely. She couldn't work out which method worked better – she guessed neither of them felt too happy a lot of the time. "Yeah, it would be better if people didn't judge... People are just people, we don't have to be so harsh..." She quietly agreed. Izumi nodded and seemed a bit happier now, ironically – someone else got what she was getting at. Well, she was pretty sure.

But then Ruki remembered some things...

-A car wreck

-Her mother's words

-A funeral

-A promise

-_She's an ice queen!_

'_I... I don't know how to act around people... I just want to be myself...!'_

She shrugged, and Izumi noticed how Ruki's eyes suddenly seemed colder. For a moment, Izumi wished she could look that cold – then no one would want to know her; she could be free from people's words. But this thought vanished as another replaced it – that's how Ruki _looked. _Who knew what thoughts were there? Izumi was almost sure she didn't want to know, and her want to be anything like that cold-looking Ruki vanished forever. Instead, she just wanted to find out if that really was Ruki.

"...We'll only be alone in the end anyway." Those words that Ruki spoke sounded like someone else's words. Or perhaps it was some sort of mantra; something she'd told herself over and over?

"Eh?" Izumi blinked, and the bell rang.

Ruki shrugged. That cold look had gone. "See you." She walked to her last lesson,

Izumi had no response. She paused, unable to think for a moment. "...Ruki-chan... is a bit morbid, huh? Hah..."

When Ruki reached the classroom, she found an embarrassed-looking Ryou, surrounded by three annoyed-looking fangirls.

The one named Fuuka saw Ruki and pointed. "You!"

Ruki blinked. "What?"

"Ryou-sama was with _you_, wasn't he?"

"No..." Ruki's reply was a confused one.

"Liar!" Haruko piped up.

"No, she's not! I had to... go to the medical room!"

"Ryou-sama..." Aoko said sadly, "Do we bore you that much...?"

"A-Aoko-san! Look...!" Ryou was getting a little annoyed now. He wasn't their possession.

Luckily for him, Katou-sensei walked in, "And... What's going on here?" The three girls immediately left Ryou alone, and went back to their seats, as did he. Which was a shame for Ruki, because she found she'd enjoyed Ryou looking at his flushed and embarrassed expression.

As Ruki took her seat, she overheard Junpei mutter to himself, "Jeez, Ryou-san is such a lucky guy..."

Ruki looked at the board, 'Nooot really.'

An hour and a bit later, Ruki was walking toward the secret place. She needed a place she could relax and clear her head. Kouji was there, annoyingly enough. She ignored him, and sat down in her normal place. She got out her CD player, and listened to some music, whilst staring at the small pond. Not much activity, except a pond skater gliding across the still water, causing the faintest of ripples.

Ruki glanced at Kouji, and felt surprised. He was leaning against the tree as normal, but he appeared to be asleep. He would've surely heard her enter.

As if he could hear her thoughts, his eyes opened, and he blinked. He glanced at Ruki, and yawned, "You're here? It's been awhile. Not that I wanted you here."

"I don't exactly enjoy your company either... Were you asleep?"

"What if I was?" Kouji asked, coldly.

"...That's actually kind of cute." Ruki couldn't believe the words she'd just said, but she couldn't deny the truth.

Kouji went bright red and narrowed his eyes at her, "Cute? What?" He looked like he was about to say something else when he shook his head, "Ugh... Never thought I'd hear you use a phrase like that. You seriously ill?"

Ruki was starting to feel a bit embarrassed for saying something like that, "W-Well, I guess something must be up with you if you fell asleep standing up against a tree." Ruki retorted.

Kouji gave her a weirdly sheepish grin. "Yeah, probably." He made his way to the entrance, and left without saying anymore. Sometimes, Ruki couldn't work out who puzzled her more – Ryou or Kouji.

Ruki breathed in deeply, and exhaled. So many years left... She stood up and headed home, where her mum would be waiting to do some "mother-daughter bonding". Ruki sighed. She guessed this would mean her mum would act the stereotype for the evening. Then Ruki remembered it was the weekend which was like a double edged sword - no weird people to deal with at school, but she had to listen to her mum's latest "fashion ideas" whilst watching her mum try to convince herself that Ruki herself was actually interested. Great.

~Revised: Kind of hasty revision, but I got to add some better stuff. See you next chapter? XD~


	15. The fourtysecond day

~REVISED: Notes at the end~[

OLD NOTE]**PLEASE BE A READIN'*  
Allllriiiighty then! Yes, I'm sorry it's taken me so long T.T I've had revision, Work experience and exams within 3 weeks, and it's the 3rd week of my holiday. Basically, I've been under a lot of stress, and needed to have a break from everything. I can breathe now, so, anywayz, enjoy this chapter ^_^

3 weeks passed. Mid-term exams came and went.

The typical buzzing of Ruki's alarm sounded. She rolled over in her bed and switched it off quickly. She sat up, yawned and rubbed her eyes, 'Oh no...We're getting our results back today...'

Her mum had been talking about it non-stop to her for the past week,

"I bet you've done brilliantly!"

"You're such a good student!" (It seems her mum had almost completely forgotten that the school have called her about Ruki's detention and unexplained absences. Well, at least she wasn't going on at Ruki about how "worried she was about her education!")

'As long as I do well in my high school finals, my mundane future of not-a-lot should be ensured.' With that cynical thought in mind, Ruki went to get showered and dressed.

Ruki padded downstairs and into the kitchen, still feeling tired. She found that her mum had made breakfast this morning. It didn't smell too bad.

"What's the occasion?" She couldn't help but ask.. Her mum pouted,

"Can't a mother cook for her daughter once in a while?"

Ruki shrugged. She almost felt like laughing, "Okay then "mother"." She sat at the table and said no more.

"So..." Her mum began, setting breakfast on the table, and sitting opposite of Ruki.

"...Results day today!"

Ruki groaned, 'I should've known... Why else would she cook for me?' She didn't answer, and instead began eating, 'Actually... I wonder how long it's been since mum cooked for me...?'

"Ruki-chan...?" Ruki blinked. Her mum was still talking, "Don't you need to go soon?" Ruki glanced at the clock, stuffed a little more food into her mouth, choked it down, and stood up hurriedly.

"Great..." She muttered, rushing toward the door. She grabbed her bag, put her shoes on, and opened the door.

"Well, good luck! I'm expecting big things from you-!"

Her mum called, but the slamming of the door interrupted her, 'Of course.' Her mum's persistence about her exams had put Ruki in an irritable mood for the morning. 'So, what else is new?' She walked a little ways, not really focusing on anything for once, which was nice, until Ryou interrupted her thoughts of content nothing.

"Yo, Ruuki!"

She glanced at him, "Why are you so happy?"

He shrugged, "This and that, hey, we get our results today, huh?"

"Yeah..."

'Unfortunately.' She added silently.

They started to walk to the school, Ryou predicting his grades all the way.

When they arrived at school and parted ways, Ruki walked into Takuya, Iori and Tomoki, and another small boy, standing next to Iori.

They saw her, and Tomoki waved, looking nervous. "R-Ruki-san!"

Ruki wasn't sure if she'd meant to or not, but she found that she had raised and waved her hand in response, then lowered it quickly, 'What am I doing? I don't wanna talk to that kid.'

Tomoki walked toward her, "Takuya-oniichan and Daisuke-san were saying they were going to play soccer later, and said you seemed pretty good! They also said you were probably gonna enter the soccer tryouts that Taichi-sempai and Sora-sempai run!"

"When did I say I was gonna do that?" Ruki asked coldly.

Takuya walked over, looking annoyed, "Well, Taichi-san seemed to think you had potential. Plus, it'd be fun to have a match!" He seemed to be in a fiery world of his own now, "Another rival to have intense soccer matches with! I'll be able to push my skills to the limit, alongside others with the same intentions!"

"I-I thought Kouji-san was your only rival..." Tomoki whispered, bringing Takuya back to reality.

"Well... Yeah... No, I've got a lot of rivals-!"

"Like Daisuke-san." Ruki said, shrugging.

"Yeah, see! I can have more than one rival!"

"Yeah, two rivals in soccer. Pretty intense." Ruki's tone was pretty ironic, which was when Takuya realised she wasn't taking him seriously.

"H-Hey! What's wrong with a friendly rivalry? It can be intense!"

"Yes, the emotion in a game involving kicking a ball into the back of a net _is _pretty intense, huh?"

They were both surprised to find that they were starting to get annoyed with one another, when, "You two, you two~!"

Izumi made her presence known, and tapped Ruki on the shoulder. She stood beside Ruki and asked, "Why not be take the rival thing seriously? It could be fun! You both want to show your skill, that's fine, ne~?"

Takuya's look was rather smug. "You can't always be right!"

"Maybe not, but Takuya-kun, I'm not siding with you. My Ruki-chan does have more sense than you." Ruki was surprised to hear Izumi retort with this, her eyes narrowed, "Besides, rivalry isn't a big deal! It's actually pretty funny!"

"Not for the ones who are competing!" They looked a little more annoyed with each other now, and Ruki stepped back, so there was nothing in the way of their bubbling annoyance.

"Coming from the guy who said he'd beat Kouji-kun in the math test, and napped for the rest of the lesson!"

Somehow, this looked like something they'd been wanting to get out of their systems for a long time. Ruki hadn't really seen the two like this, but judging from Tomoki's smile, she guessed it was how they were together.

Takuya had now gone a little red, "No one caught me napping that lesson! Were you looking at me or something?"

Izumi went red now, "W-What? Why'd you read something like that into it! I must've been bored, and glanced round the classroom!" They were both glaring at each other now. Iori, who had just joined them, stood next to Tomoki, looking confused.

It was almost funny to watch the two, until the argument was interrupted, "Izumi-chan? What're you doing?" It was some of Izumi's friends. Both Izumi and Takuya had gone quiet, as Izumi looked stunned. She slowly turned around to face them, forcing a smile.

"Oh, uh... Ruki-chan and Takuya-kun were arguing! I was just trying to stop them!"

Her friend smiled, "Friends arguing is never good."

Izumi's expression was unreadable for a few seconds. She then forced her smile back and nodded.

"Y-Yeah... Well, I think they're okay again, so..." She turned to Ruki, "S-See you later, Ruki-chan!" She then turned to Takuya, and flashed the same forced smile at him, "See you..Takuya-kun!" Turning back to her friends, they walked away.

The bell rang. 'What just happened?' Ruki couldn't help but feel a little confused.

Tomoki looked at the ground sadly. Iori looked at him questioningly.

Tomoki looked at him, "Izumi...san... She wasn't always like that." He couldn't seem to work out how to continue that sentence, "...L-Let's go... See you later, Takuya-oniichan."

Takuya nodded, without looking at him. He was looking at the ground, annoyed. Ruki debated with herself fiercely about whether or not to dismiss it, or ask him what he was thinking. As much as she hated to admit it, Izumi had grown on her, and also felt annoyed that she was acting this way.

Takuya spoke anyway, "I can't stand it... that she's acting like this." He looked at Ruki, a strange look of understanding in his eyes as they met hers. 'I-I hardly know Izumi, why is he acting as if I have a clue?' but before she could voice her harsh thoughts, he'd already headed off to his lesson.

Maths and Japanese passed, with nothing but the usual routine of lecture, work and idle talk. Ruki felt she was getting a headache already.

As she stepped out onto the playground, Juri walked over to her, looking extremely happy, "Morning Ruki-chan~!"

'We just saw each other in class...' Ruki thought she'd been acting weird, well, more so than usual.

Ruki's silence seemed to not register with Juri, as she just giggled, "I have a good feeling about my results!"

"Oh... W-Well, at least it's put you in a good mood..." Ruki wasn't sure why she'd bothered with this awkward response.

"But~ There is another reason I'm happy, you know~?" When she said no more, Ruki realised Juri wanted her to ask.

Despite rolling her eyes, Ruki found she was more amused than anything, "...What's the other reason, then?"

"My brother is coming back from Hokkaido to stay with us~!"

"You have an older brother?"

"Eh? Oh, well, he's actually my step-brother, but he is really like an older brother." Juri looked thoughtful, "I hated him at first, since he was the son of my step-mu... But he was still really kind to me. And he was honest!" They'd begun walking toward a bench now, "He told me that he wasn't so pleased about his mum, and that he doubted he'd ever see me as a little sister!" Ruki raised an eyebrow, 'How does that seem kind? Hey, why am I even listening...?'

"So, there was an incident in the park, me and Kyo got in trouble, and he protected us... He looked so cool like that... kinda like..." She stared up at the sky, trying to find a word, "Oh yeah! I said this to him when I was younger! He was like a lion!" She giggled, "Y'know, all that bravery stuff they're supposed to represent..."

Ruki wanted to laugh, "You still think of him like that?"

Juri actually laughed, "I guess I do! Haha! He's coming back in a month and a half! I can't wait!"

'That's soon...?'

Juri clearly recognised what Ruki was thinking and laughed again, "Well, since I haven't seen him for 3 years, that feels pretty soon to me!" She then paused, "Oh, looks like I kinda took over your break with my story?"

"Not really. It solves why you've been even more cheerful than normal all morning." Ruki found herself mumbling, then shrugged. She was surprised to find that she'd really stopped using that fake, "plain nice" agenda. At this point she would've replied, "No, not at all" and smiled.

Juri smiled a little, then noticed Takato, "Ah! Takato-kun! Guess what..!" She ran over to the surprised, blushing boy, and started talking excitedly. Ruki decided this was probably a good time to get lunch out... had the bell not rung. She sighed, and headed to her next lesson.

At the end of 4th lesson, the class fell silent. Several fidgeted, as Takato ran down the hall way, to check if the results were out yet. Out of all of them though, surprisingly, Ryou seemed the most intent. He was staring at the door, waiting for Takato to come back, and say. Ruki was annoyed that she had been looking at him, but she'd noticed as she'd glanced round the room. She'd never seen him so intent, like it really meant something.

After a few minutes, Junpei said loudly, "W-Why is everyone so tense? We're not even in high school, and we're getting worried!"

Hirokazu laughed, "Junpei's right!"

Talk broke out among the class. Junpei started entertaining some people with some magic tricks. Juri came over to Ruki, and started saying how she thought she'd done. The only one who remained silent was Ryou, 'Lighten up, Pretty boy.'

After a few more minutes, running was heard from outside the classroom, and Takato appeared, panting, "Y-Yeah...they're out...phew..."

The class got up and stampeded out the class. Juri passed Takato, then stopped, and smiled at him, "Thank you, Takato-kun!"

He went red, "I-It was n-nothing!" He straightened up, "I'll be there in a while..." Juri nodded, and hurried after the others. Ruki walked out, a little behind Juri, wanting to follow them. She was worried that she'd lose sight of them, and wouldn't know where to go.

"Ah, Ruki-san... Do you know the way there?" Takato asked. Ruki nodded, no way was she going to tell him that she didn't know.

He nodded, and walked beside her, "I hope my results are okay... I thought about looking myself, but I knew that everyone would get annoyed, waiting."

"I'm surprised you all get so agitated. It's not like it's High school, or anything."

Takato looked at the ceiling, "Haha... I guess that's true... It's weird for you then, Ruki-san?"

"Well, it's not like these results will affect us too badly right now."

Takato laughed. At this point, Ruki had no idea where to go. 'Why did I stand around talking to this guy?'

She must've hesitated too long, because Takato had started smiling a little "It's okay if you don't know the way. I'm just gonna pick up my bag and then we'll head over there. Okay?" This quiet-sounding confidence surprised Ruki a lot.

She shrugged, not looking at him "Y-Yeah, okay."

They started talking again, much to Ruki's surprise, until they reached the faculty hall, and went to look for their results. Ruki was trying to ignore the quiet liking she'd just developed for Takato. He clearly wasn't as timid as she'd first assumed, which lead her to feeling a little guilty for assuming like that. Just like what everyone else did...

Eventually she found her name and began looking through the results, "Hm..."

'Average results... Maybe now mom will stop harping on about me being a "great student".' She then began walking toward the playground.

As she did, she walked past Ryou, who was staring at his results, and seemed to be smiling. '...Smug little... 'He always acts like he's so enigmatic, yet he's just a...' Ruki wasn't sure how to finish that sentence. The idea that he'd been closely involved with her dad's accident came back to her, and she grudgingly acknowledged that she'd gotten no new information out of him. She headed to the playground.

After walking through it for a few minutes, she found the bench from earlier. She sat down, and began to eat. After awhile, she heard someone say, "Hey..." She looked behind her. There was a small patch of trees behind her, and Kouji was leaning against the middle one.

Ruki turned back to her food, "What?"

"That Juri-san... She's...lucky...does she realise that?"

Ruki shrugged, "Why do you care?"

Kouji acted like he hadn't heard her, "I heard you guys earlier... Juri-san sounded kinda sad..." He stood up, "But... Tell her from me; she's lucky."

He began walking away, "Last time I checked, it's rude to eavesdrop." Ruki told him,

"Hmph..." He sounded amused, and left. Finally, Ruki, instead of having to listen to enigmatic and/or cheerful talk, was able to eat in peace.

Well, she thought so.

"Oi, you." Junpei walked up to her, sounding resentful. She looked up at him, 'Now what?'

"This is my spot."

Ruki raised an eyebrow, "Where's your two-man posse?"

Junpei narrowed his eyes and looked away, "T-They're my friends, not my "posse"..."

"Uh-huh." Ruki resumed eating. Junpei was quiet for a moment.

Ruki was about to ask what he wanted, when he asked something odd, "You're close to Izumi-chan, aren't you?"

Ruki's answer was a slight shake of her head.

"R-Really? But I see her with you a lot..." He sounded annoyed. He looked intently at the ground, then looked at her, seeming pleased with himself, "Well, since I'd never ask Takuya or Kouji, I guess I'll ask you. When you next see her, could ya tell her that I'd like to see her sometime? We're old friends..." A mischievous grin spread across his face, "Or maybe we're something more..."

"Oh please." Ruki felt herself being put off her lunch slowly but surely.

"Aww... c'mon! Please! I just want to hang out with her again! We were at least great friends once! But now...I haven't really spoken to her..."

Ruki wondered if he didn't know about Izumi's infamous personality change, which would be odd.

He started rummaging through his pockets, and pulled out a bar of chocolate, "I'll let you have some, if you ask her when you next see her!"

Ruki blinked in confusion – was this supposed to be some kind of bribe? Chocolate? She resumed eating her lunch. "I don't want any. Besides, it's lunch, why don't you go ask her now?"

Junpei looked depressed now, "She's always with a crowd of girls... I don't wanna go up to her and ask...Not that she'd care what they think, but still..."

'He must definitely not know.' Ruki thought. It didn't look like he'd go away 'till she said yes, "Fine!" Ruki sighed, exasperatedly, "I don't want chocolate or anything, just leave me alone."

Pink ovals appeared on Junpei's cheeks, "Thank you! Yes! This is great!" He walked away in a happy daze, 'Finally.' She finished off her bento, checked around for teachers, then got her headphones out.

After awhile, she leant her head against the bench, her eyes closed. It must've been at least ten minutes, until she faintly heard someone sit down next to her. She opened her eyes and groaned a little, "Pretty boy...What do you want?" She asked quietly, opening her eyes a little.

He grinned, "Enthusiastic as ever! How were your results?"

Ruki shrugged, she wasn't going to tell him.

"I was pretty pleased with my results." He continued, "I was pretty surprised too, considering how I've been in the past..."

"...I did about average. And I'm okay with that. I don't see why everyone has to make such a fuss. We've got awhile 'till high school and beyond." Ryou nodded,

"I suppose you're right." He leaned back, "But still, you're pretty clever, I would've thought you'd try harder."

Ruki's eyes narrowed, "It doesn't matter! Besides, all that would've happened is my mom would've gone on and on about what a great student I am! Blah blah blah!"

Ryou's eyes widened, "So...you deliberately..?"

Ruki straightened up, "I don't know! I-I guess I don't want her to think I'm this great student with amazing grades, that's not me..."

Ryou smiled, seeming a little sad, "She sees you as anything other than you, huh?"

Ruki glared at him, "Don't start getting all deep like that!" She told him indignantly.

He laughed, "Okay, I'm sorry, I won't confuse you with all my deep thoughts..."

Ruki continued to glare, and Ryou laughed again. After a minute of silence, he folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, "I... I think I understand your situation a little...My old man..." He trailed off.

"...What?"

He sighed, "It was like...I was just something that improved his reputation, when really he..." He stopped and shook his head, "It doesn't matter. This is a different time and place. I shouldn't care anymore..."

"Wait, you mean your dad..." Ruki wasn't sure how to continue. Ryou's continued silence caused her to fold her arms, "...you really think you're enigmatic, don't you?"

He laughed and stood up, "Not really...though, I'm flattered you think I am!"

She yawned, "I didn't say that but whatever, can you go away now?"

"Aw... Hime is cruel..."

He turned, and was about to leave, when Ruki said quietly, "If only all these expectations of us didn't exist..."

He looked back at her, surprised, "Wha-?"

"Go away." She repeated, glaring at him.

"Heh. It's funny how we think so similarly."

"Psh, you wish! You're just so...!"

He grinned, "Yeah yeah, heard it before, later!" He walked away.

Ruki was surprised that she'd had that sort of conversation with him, 'I should've asked about the accident...' She stared after him, not really caring whether he was in hearing range or not "...That idiot." She leant back against the bench, and immersed herself in her music once again.

Eventually, the bell rang. Ruki reluctantly stood up and put her headphones away. When she reached the classroom, several people, along with his fangirls, were gathered around Ryou,

"Ahaha...Thanks." She heard him say,

"Ryou-sama! You must've studied hard!" Aoi said.

"I think Ryou-sama is just smart!"

Ryou lowered his eyes, and looked at his desk, "No..." He said quietly, "...I think I was just making up for something..."

"Ryou-sama?" He looked up, and clearly attempted to smile, "It's only middle school! We've still got a ways till we're done with education!" He glanced at Ruki, who'd paused to listen as she'd passed, and flashed her a small smile, then looked back to the girls. Ruki glared at him, and quickly dodged the imminent glare of the three fangirls, who'd turned around to see who was there. She got to her seat quickly, and put her head on her desk. Just one more hour...

Ruki yawned just as the bell went. She packed up quickly, and left, wanting to avoid anymore talk about the test, 'Maybe everyone is thinking about their futures carefully _now..._' she walked across the grounds, wanting to go to her place today, just to avoid her mum for a little while longer.

"Hey. How'd you do?" She looked to her left, surprised. It was Jenrya.

Ruki looked away, "Why does everyone want to know so much about other's results...?" She asked quietly. Jenrya looked thoughtful.

"Hmm...Good point. I guess they're interested because... Well, maybe their friend feels down about it? Or happy? Or maybe because people are thinking about their futures more carefully, even now." Ruki was surprised that he said this. She didn't like to admit it, but she liked this insightfulness.

"Oh, I bet you're wondering why I'm going this way, I'm picking up my sister from nursery. I think her friends are coming round as well." He sighed, "Little sisters can be kinda annoying sometimes, though we don't bicker much." He smiled a little. They began talking, well, Jenrya did most of the talking and in the end, and Ruki ended up walking past her place, and had to go back round to get home. She sighed, and felt a little resentment toward Jenrya. But not too much.

When she finally got back, her mum wasn't there. Ruki blinked, "Weird..." She murmured. Then she breathed a sigh of relief. It looked as if she would get a bit of peace from her mum, and anyone else, for awhile longer. She went upstairs to her room, and lay down on her bed for awhile, blissfully unaware that her mum was at the police station, having yet another interview on the subject of the accident...

/

[OLD NOTE]Well, there we are! ^_^ Sorry for the time it took. Now, just to let y'all know, I'm gonna be putting up some other stories along side this chapter. Doesn't mean I won't work on this as much. But, for example, my Arche/Chester stuff (From Tales of Phantasia) will probably come out quickly, since I find it easy and simple to write (Plus I'm just kinda obsessed at the moment, I'll get over it sometime ^^; ). With this story, I always need to go back over, and really think about the events that're gonna occur, as well as those that have happened, so that I don't contradict the canon I've got. ...What canon am I talking about? I contradict myself a lot in this -_-; *sigh* Well, I'll make the mess-ups as minimal to the rest of the story as I can. ^_^ Thank you ever so much for reading it, despite all this stuff! *glompz readers* See you~

~REVISED: I'm so behind on this... Anyway, that's another chapter revised, not many more now and I'll be starting a brand new chapter, with a bit of luck! Hope you have enjoyed this chapter!~


	16. The fortyfourth day

~Revised~

[OLD NOTE]Once again, I am confusing who uses what honorifics. Sorry! –sweat drop-

/

"Beeep beeep beeep beeep bee-!" Ruki switched he alarm off, and rolled onto her side. "Another week..." She muttered. It hadn't been the greatest of weekends, that was for sure, 'And she was so certain that the incident had been over and done with...' She yawned as she headed to the bathroom.

Once she was downstairs and just about ready for school, her mum came down the stairs.

"Mornin' Ruki-chan..." She glanced at the calendar, "Wow, it's the twenty-eighth..." she murmured, then looked back at Ruki, "I'm sorry about this weekend...it's been so long, I didn't think they'd ask about it again..."

"Is it still the same detective?" Ruki vaguely remembered a pretty determined detective, who was certain there was something more to the case than a drink-driving incident.

Her mum nodded, "I wonder where he gets the time to look back at this subject...that guy is crazy. I mean, you almost got mugged! Can't he investigate his time into lowering crime in this area during the present?" She carried on rambling as she got her own breakfast ready. Ruki silently agreed with her. She made sure never to go back that late again, that was for sure, 'Guess I won't be visiting that place during winter...' She shuddered a little. Although she didn't think about it often, when she did think about it, she felt a little scared, 'Well, I wasn't _that_ scared! In fact, I'm not scared! I...I'll just be more careful.' With that determined thought, she left the house.

As she walked toward school, she remembered the first of April...her birthday...It'd been several weeks since it, why was she thinking about it? She glanced around. No Ryou in sight. She sighed a relieved sigh, "That guy...He's so..." Thought he was perfect, everyone liked him etc. etc. It wasn't that she was jealous, well, she was sure she wasn't, but he seemed to think he was mysterious. That he was intriguing. He really wasn't. He was just an annoying pretty boy. And why was it that there we kids at this school who actually seemed to want to be her friend? She'd gone over this so often, it was stupid. She didn't need friends. She didn't need anyone. She'd be fine, 'Will you really...?' She shut this thought up. She knew she'd be okay. Besides, she wouldn't always be able to rely on them. She didn't want to have friends, who had the potential to disappear.

"Morning, Ruki-san!" Hikari's cheerful call interrupted Ruki's trail of contrasting depressing thoughts. She walked over to Ruki, "I don't want to do any more exams..." She paused and then smiled a little, "But, I suppose it is good. Prepares us for the future..." She looked a little distant now.

Ruki wasn't sure how to respond, "Uh... We've still got time?"

"Hikari-chan~!" Daisuke walked over to them, and put a hand on Hikari's shoulder, "Hikari-chan, you did great!"

Hikari turned and smiled at him, "I wish they didn't have to put our results up...it's kind of embarrassing"

Daisuke sighed, "Ya got that right... My results..." He heaved another heavy sigh, "My parents' won't buy me a new console now... And everyone is making fun of me..." Ruki wasn't really sure why she was still here, until Daisuke glanced at her.

"Oh... you..." He said coolly.

She raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Apparently you're gonna be playing at our next match!" He grinned, "I look forward to our match! Course, I'll win."

Ruki looked away, "I've already said to Takuya, I won't be playing."

Daisuke looked surprised, "B-But Taichi-sempai seemed to think you had potential..."

She shrugged, "And?" She didn't want to have this conversation anymore, "Later." She muttered, and walked away.

As she walked, she heard Daisuke rant, "Jeez, what's her problem?"

"Ahaha... Some people are just like that, I guess." Hikari replied vaguely,

'Yeah, I guess they are...'

Once again, Juri was in a happy daze. When Ruki entered the classroom, she was talking animatedly to Takato, Jenrya and Alice. It occurred to Ruki that nothing much had happened with Alice lately. Only, she'd been talking a little more, which was definitely a good thing. Ruki wondered if she should talk to her at break, just to see if her weird hearing voices thing was still happening. Juri turned as Ruki entered and waved, "Ruki-chan!" She dragged Ruki over to them, and carried on speaking, somehow bringing Ruki into the conversation.

Jenrya glanced at her and smiled, "You remember our conversation yesterday? Well, turns out, several kids' parents' agreed to buy them something if they got good grades."

Ruki raised an eyebrow, "Wow... So much for thinking about their future..."

Jenrya laughed, "Indeed." The teacher entered, and they took their seats.

Once the morning classes had ended, Hirokazu walked over to Takato,

""It's only basic algebra"? Yeah, right!"

"Well, I still did well on the test, so I'm happy." said Kenta, who was standing timidly next to Hirokazu (as usual),

"Ooh, what did you get, Kitagawa-kun?" Juri asked, her cheerful tone rather encouraging.

Kenta looked a little embarrassed, "Well, it's not that great... I-I mean, my parents' were pretty pleased and... yeah..." Despite his embarrassment, he looked pleased.

Hirokazu, meanwhile, was sulking. Whilst voicing his complaints about the test to Takato, Junpei walked past. "I know how you feel, Hirokazu-san!"

Hirokazu spun round, "H-Hey, I didn't do _that_ badly, y'know!"

Junpei looked taken aback "Ah...uh...hey, c'mon, cut me some slack!"

They narrowed their eyes at each other, forcing Juri to stand between them, although somehow she didn't seem to be noticing the slightly antagonistic air between the two, "So, Junpei-san, you did badly?"

He sighed, "Not much of a surprise, huh?"

"Oh, I don't know, did you study?"

Junpei sighed even louder at that. Jenrya walked over, "I wouldn't worry about it. We've got awhile 'till these things become really important. We were saying that yesterday, right, Ruki-san?"

Junpei's eyes shone, "You guys think that too? My stupid parents are always like "It's good, prepares you for the future!""

He pouted, and Juri looked a little exasperated, "My parents are like that too... Especially my dad, he's so..." She went quiet. Ruki gave her a concerned glance. 'Wait, concerned...?'

Juri shook her head, and forced a smile, "Uh, Junpei-san, do you wanna hang out with us?"

Junpei looked surprised, before his eyes began shining again, "Y-Y'mean it?" He stopped himself, "I-I mean, sure, that'd be cool, although I can't everyday, of course." He grinned to himself, "Everyone wants a piece of the great Junpei-sama!"

Jenrya, Juri and Kenta laughed, "Yeah, sure."

Hirokazu frowned, "Aw c'mon, does he _have_ to hang out with us? He assumed I failed..."

"Actually, you did." Takato said quietly.

"Ah, be quiet, Takato..." Takato couldn't hide his grin, and Hirokazu scowled.

"Hey, Ruki-san, have you seen Izumi-chan yet?" Junpei asked Ruki.

She rolled her eyes and "No." Was her blunt response.

Juri looked surprised, "Izumi-chan? Wow, another person I haven't spoken to in ages, how is she?"

Junpei looked down,

"I dunno, I haven't spoken to her in ages either...probably about a year, since she came to middle school..."

Everyone looked very surprised at this,

"A year?" Kenta repeated.

"Wow, that's a long time..." Takato said, "Didn't you try talking to her in that time?"

Junpei nodded, "Yeah, but she's always with a bunch of other girls, so..." Takato nodded, understandingly, glancing at Juri briefly. Ruki tried not to sigh a little. Maybe it'd be better to tell Junpei how much she'd changed instead of finding out for himself.

"I remember that you, Takuya, Kouji and Kouichi were good friends! Why don't you try asking them to ask her to see you?" Takato continued.

Junpei shrugged, "Those guys? I haven't spoken to them for ages either. We separated pretty soon after that year."

The bell rang, and after another five minutes, everyone took their places. Ruki was wondering how Junpei had managed to remain ignorant of Izumi's so-called "Personality change". Her thoughts were interrupted by a piece of paper (apparently from Juri) being passed to her.

_We need to reunite those guys! Takato-kun said they were pretty good friends when they were younger, and Junpei seems to want to talk to Izumi-chan again...I know it's none of our business really (To which Ruki murmured "You got that right" ) but Junpei-san seems sad, so, let's help him out! - Juri._

Ruki wasn't sure what she was going to do. She didn't think it any of her business, yet Junpei had asked her about Izumi, so it shouldn't hurt to help. But, Izumi was deliberately trying to be different. Wouldn't that affect the plan...? It then occurred to Ruki that Ryou wasn't there. Although you'd normally think he was sick, Ruki always got the feeling that with Ryou; it never really seemed to be the case.

"So~ What do we all think?" Juri asked everyone cheerfully, when lunch arrived and most of the class had left. Alice had also left, though no one was sure why. Ayaka and Miki had volunteered their help. Ayaka rolled her eyes,

"That's just like you, huh, Juri-chan?"

Hirokazu smirked at her, "Yeah, like you could come up with anything better!"

Ayaka glared at him, "Oh, I could, I could come up with plans your tiny brain could never dream of!"

Hirokazu looked annoyed, "Keep bluffing, Itou!"

Takato and Kenta went over to them, "H-Hirokazu, it doesn't matter..." Kenta stuttered, and Takato nodded, grinning awkwardly. Luckily for the group, Junpei's other friend's had come to see him, so he wasn't able to hear of their plan.

Miki folded her arms, "The plan, Juri-chan...?"

Juri nodded, "Well, it seems the best idea to get them to run into each other!"

"Takuya, Kouji and his twin...uh, Kouichi? Yeah, included?"

Ruki quickly cut across, "They told me they weren't related."

Ayaka narrowed her eyes at Ruki, whilst Hirokazu smirked again, "Not that smart, huh?"

"You..." She hissed, and Takato spoke quickly, obviously not wanting another argument to erupt, "Y-Yeah, I guess not, but it's not surprising that Ayaka-san thought it, they do look similar..."

Jenrya nodded, "It really is strange though. How similar they look." Ruki went over the times she'd met the two, and she agreed with Jenrya. They looked too similar. She'd already had thoughts like these, but had dismissed them, after all, they apparently hadn't met until they'd come to this school. She was a little glad she wasn't the only one with those thoughts.

"Hmm...Maybe we should investigate that too..." Juri said thoughtfully.

"Aw, c'mon, can we just get this plan out the way with first?" Hirokazu asked, sounding a little exasperated, then grinned, "After, me and Takato are gonna have a digimon card game match! And once Ryou-san gets back...!" He glanced at Ryou's desk, clearly annoyed that the great Ryou had chosen today of all days to not be in. Ayaka sighed loudly,

"Jeez, Shioda, all it is with you is the damn Digimon card game. Get a life."

Hirokazu folded his arms, "Well, at least I don't hang out in shops for several hours staring at clothes!"

Ayaka looked outraged, "Uh, I don't actually spend that long there, I'll have you know-!"

"O-Okay, let's stop." Takato said, looking awkward again.

Juri smiled, "Ayaka, if you'll remember what we talked about..."

Ayaka went a little red, "T-Thats got nothing to do with this!"

Miki giggled, "Of course it it doesn't..." Takato, Hirokazu and Kenta looked completely confused.

Juri waved a hand, "Never mind! Anyway, so the plan... Me and Miki, Ayaka and Hirokazu and Kenta are gonna make sure the place for them to meet up is clear! She smiled innocently as Ayaka and Hirokazu began their indignant speech,

"Why do I get stuck with her?"

"Why am I stuck with him?"

Juri was still smiling innocently, "No real reason just thought it'd be nice! So! Takato-kun, Jenrya-san, and Ruki-chan! That leaves you three to get Junpei-san!"

Everyone glanced at each other,

"Uh...what about Izumi?" Takato asked, unsure.

"Huh? Oh! Aha, I've already got Hikari-chan and Miyako-chan working on that." Everyone sweat-dropped, 'How did she set that up so quickly...?'

Ruki was beginning to fear Juri was starting to turn as "enigmatic" as Ryou, 'Then again, there's already the whole thing with Katou-sensei. Maybe everyone here is like that... Just, Ryou gets in my face about it more.'

"Well, everyone! See you later! We'll report back here after we've confirmed they've met, and then go to check how it's going!"

Ruki really thought it was time for her to say something about Izumi, but there was something else bugging her, "Juri-san." She said quietly,

"Yeah?"

"Do you really think it's okay for us to interfere like this? It's none of our business, really..."

Juri, who had turned toward the door, turned back to her, "Uh...well..." Everyone had gone quiet now. It was a good question. Ruki knew Junpei had asked her already, but this whole "plan" thing seemed unnecessary.  
"I know it isn't any of our business, but...Junpei-san seems pretty down about it, and he said he can't speak to her, so..." Her smile had turned a little sly, "So, what if they just walked into each other? With no one else around?"

A few people giggled.

Takato smiled at Juri, "That's just like Katou-san..." He said to himself quietly.

Everyone wondered out toward their designated destinations.

Ruki felt a little confused, "So, hang on, why do we have to get Junpei-san?" She couldn't help ask.

Jenrya shrugged, "I guess... uh, no, actually I have no idea."

Takato grinned, "Whatever the reason is, we'll just have to try our best, huh?"

"Huh." Ruki replied.

They walked out into the playground, "Now to find Junpei-san..." Jenrya murmured, glancing around,

"Hey, but what about those guys he was with? They didn't look like those other guys he hangs out with sometimes..."

Jenrya looked surprised, "You know him then?"

Takato shrugged, "Kinda...I asked him to teach me some magic tricks when I was a little younger." He laughed, 'Oh great, a trip down memory lane...' was Ruki's sarcastic thought. Something must've shown in her expression, because Takato went quiet pretty quickly. Ruki didn't want to have to apologise and continued to be silent. She didn't even understand why she was considering apologising! Jenrya glanced at them both, surprised, and he smiled a small smile.

"As for Junpei-san..." They walked through the playground, looking around for any sight of Junpei or his friends.

"Ah, there." Jenrya nodded, pointing to the place that Ruki had sat at yesterday. A tall boy and a short girl were standing either side of Junpei, talking to him, "...and that's what she said." Junpei looked a very surprised at the boy,

"R-Really? But...I haven't really spoken to her at all lately..."

The boys both sniggered, "Yeah, course you haven't. What about all that time ago?"

"Eh? Well, yeah, but that was then! Wait...If I _were_ to get Izumi-chan to see you, what would you want with her?"

The girl grinned, "Well, we taught her a lesson once... if she's being as snobbish as Mira-chan said, then we can re-teach her that lesson..."

Junpei blinked at them, shocked at this, "W-What do you mean? Jeez, what year are you guys? And what the hell are you up to? "

"Same year as you. Aw, do I scare you?" the boy said tauntingly.

The girl snorted, "Yeah! Aw, poor kid!"

Junpei glared at them, "W-Whatever! You're just a bunch of weird kids! Besides, I'd never get you to meet up with Izumi-chan!" The boy and girl glanced round behind them, by which time Takato, Jenrya and Ruki had finally decided to intervene.

"Hey, Junpei-san..." Takato said, sounding very unsure.

"What's going on?" Jenrya asked calmly.

Junpei pushed his way out of the company of the two either side of him, toward Takato, Ruki and Jenrya.

"Don't worry guys!" He announced confidently, "Just a bunch of weird kids who think they're actually scary!"

The kids turned to glare now, but a teacher was walking past, and they knew there was nothing they could do.

Ruki stepped forward, "So, what did you want with him?" Everyone looked at her, very surprised. She hesitated now. How could she have just said that? 1. None of her business, and 2. Most importantly, what did she care?

Junpei looked intently at the shady kids, looking worried. Shaking his head, he stuttered,"I-It's alright, Ruki-san! T-They're just weird kids!"

Jenrya nodded, "It's not like we're going to fight them." he said quietly to Ruki, "C'mon..." Ruki felt a little stubborn now, why should she move? There was something about these kids that annoyed her, anyway.

The shady kids looked at her, grinning slyly, "Oh, nothing, don't worry..." They both started whispering to each other, but didn't take their eyes off of Ruki.

"Ruki-san"." Ruki narrowed her eyes. Jenrya put a hand on her shoulder, "There's no point. C'mon..." He glanced at the two strange kids, and then to Junpei, "Um, we're all hanging out in the homeroom, just wondering where you were. Wanna head back with us?"

Junpei, still trying to conceal how intimidated he was by the two kids, nodded. "Y-Yeah! Got nothing much else to do here. Let's go!"

Ruki hesitated again, and Takato approached Ruki, "Ruki-san...I know this is all really suspicious, but... Katou-san's plan..." His last point was barely audible. Ruki knew what he was saying, but the suspicious kids still seemed... suspicious. Still grinning slyly, the girl and boy began to slink away.

Ruki turned abruptly to face the others, "Fine." She said sternly, "Let's go." She walked briskly ahead of them, feeling partially annoyed at them, but most of all herself. Why had she done that? She didn't want to get involved. After a moment, she decided she didn't want to think about it for much longer, either.

They arrived back, the strange tension they'd felt earlier still hanging around them.

Junpei grinned at everyone, "Hey guys! What's happening? These guys just kinda dragged me over here..."

Juri smiled innocently, "Well, me and Miki-chan had an idea for something, but we need your help..."

Junpei looked suspicious, and asked quietly, "...was that note you passed round earlier about me?"

Everyone sweat-dropped, except Juri, who shook her head, still retaining the innocent look, "Of course not! That was about... uh, Alice-san, I-I was just wondering if anyone had seen her. Anyway..." Junpei glanced around darkly at everyone for a split second, and then shook his head a little, obviously trying to shake the doubt away.

He grinned, "Y-Yeah! Juri-chan! Okay, you can count on me!" Everyone sighed as he left with Miki and Juri. At the "Juri-chan" part, Takato had shot Junpei a small side-long glance, but had said nothing. Jenrya, noticing this, began explaining that that was just how Junpei was, he supposed. Takato nodded, insisting he wasn't affected at all.

Ayaka giggled, "You're not particularly subtle, huh, Takato-kun"

"Even so, it's better than being a loudmouth, huh, Kenta?" Hirokazu said loudly, his arms folded behind his head, his back to everyone.

Kenta gulped, "I, uh, guess not..."

Ayaka began shouting at him now, "It's better than being an annoying little brat...!" And another argument broke out.

"I can't say I blame Ayaka-san." Ruki muttered loudly as she walked past Hirokazu, to get something out of her desk.

Hirokazu turned to her, "W-What's that s'posed to mean, Miss Ice Queen?"

Ayaka snorted at him, "That's the best insult you can come up with?"

After a few more minutes, Juri entered the room again. Miki stepped in front of her, and put a finger to her lips.

"And now for the results..." Ruki raised an eyebrow, and the others laughed a little. Miki stepped to the side, as Juri punched the air,

"Mission accomplished!"

A mass-response of "Yesss!" sounded throughout the small group.

Ayaka giggled, "Aw, no applause? Poor Juri-chan..."

Miki folded her arms and mock-pouted, "Oh, and what am I, chopped liver?"

The two giggled, and Juri smiled, "Well, the main point is, we did it! Y'know, we should have a name..."

"A name for what?" Miyako asked, as she entered the room with Hikari right behind her, "And also, where is _my_ round of applause?"

Hikari laughed at her, "I doubt that's actually gonna happen, Miyako-san."

Juri turned to greet them, "Thanks a lot for your help, you guys!"

Hirokazu pouted, "Aw man, Junpei is lucky he gets all this help. Why did we even help him?" He sighed, "Can't we all help me out with my grades instead?"

Laughter sounded, and Hirokazu only glared at them all.

"He's our friend, I'd say!" Juri said cheerfully, when the laughter died down.

A sly look crossed Miyako's face, "Now...shall we see if the results are positive?" As if it were some lab experiment. Everyone turned to Miyako and Hikari, who were still in the doorway, clueless.

Miyako stepped forward, "Oh ho ho! Spy on them, of course!"

After much persuasion from Miyako; Ayaka, Miki, Hikari, Juri, Takato, Hirokazu and Kenta went to spy on Junpei and Izumi. Jenrya and Ruki stayed behind. Ruki found it ridiculous.

Jenrya stared after them, looking amused, ""Friendship is something beautiful, and beautiful things need to be witnessed"...?" Jenrya quoted, now looking a little confused, "I guess that's a line that I'll never understand."

"At least you didn't take it in like the rest of them." Ruki sounded exasperated.

Jenrya grinned, "I don't think they bought it as such, they just...uh...Inoue-san is pretty good at persuasion, huh?"

"Where...where is everyone?" A girl asked quietly, as she entered the room.

Jenrya blinked, "Alice-san! Oh, uh..." Alice looked more than a little disorientated. She closed her eyes, and whispered something that sounded incomprehensible. She then opened her eyes, "S-Sorry...wait, huh?" Jenrya and Ruki glanced at one another, then walked toward Alice.

"Alice-san, are you okay?" Jenrya asked her, deep concern in his voice. She blinked a few times, and looked to the two people standing in front of her, like she was seeing for the first time.

"Lee-kun... Ruki-san..."

Jenrya looked surprised at this, "Did you just say "Lee-kun"...?" He asked softly. He walked right up to her now, and put a hand on her shoulder. She blinked, and Ruki could've sworn she saw her eyes change to a pale blue, but quickly changed back to her usual dark blue eyes.

Jenrya must've seen it to, since he took his hand off her shoulder, and stood back. Alice looked up at them all, "What is it?" She asked, with her usual quiet, uninspired voice.

Jenrya sighed to himself a little, "Nothing! Doesn't matter... The others went to, uh, "witness their accomplishment" I guess." He laughed a little to himself.

"Oh, so that's what they were doing. But who're they spying on?" Ryou grinned as he walked into the classroom. Ruki blinked and Alice turned around to face Ryou. Jenrya didn't look bothered by this.

"What, so Pretty boy can stroll in anytime he wants?" Ruki asked sarcastically.

Ryou chuckled, "Something like that." Ruki didn't bother to respond. Ryou glanced round, "So who are they spying on?"

Jenrya sweat-dropped, "You missed a lot today, Ryou-san." Ryou glanced away from Jenrya, a dark look crossing his face,

"Just my luck, huh?" He said quietly, and then looked back to Jenrya and his face brightened, "Well, is it really okay for them to spy?"

Jenrya shrugged, "Inoue-san certainly thought so."

Ryou grinned, "Well, she would, wouldn't she? Wow, not even Hirokazu-kun could resist?"

Jenrya returned the grin, "I guess not. They're spying on Junpei-san, by the way, since we helped him meet up with Izumi-san."

Ryou looked surprised, "Oh, that's good...but they're spying on him?"

Ruki sighed, "I still don't see the point. It's not as if Izumi will talk to him like she must've done in the past, given how she is now."

Ryou nodded his agreement, and Jenrya looked at them both, puzzled, ""Given how she is now"...?"

'And I'm gonna give information, because...?' Ruki remained silent.

"Well, I'm not sure why, but Izumi-chan is...well...she acts different to how she used to. She used to be pretty cheerful, a little loud, kinda blunt, and... well... now she just acts like she's one of those popular kids, acts all sweet and a bit ditzy, etcetera." Ryou explained this surprisingly well.

"Oh..." Jenrya was surprised at this information, "And you have no clues as to why, huh?" He looked thoughtful.

Ruki shrugged, "But there isn't anything we can do. If she wants to do that, then she can do that."

"Ahaha... Ruki, you sure can be negative." Ryou said, amused, "But I get what you mean. Something tells me their interference really got you, huh?"

Ruki wasn't going to dignify his correct assumption.

"Now..." A mischievous grin crossed his face, "Let's drag them back here, yeah?"

Alice looked at them all, "May... May I come?"

Everyone looked to her, and Jenrya nodded, "Sure!"

Ryou nodded, "Yep!"

Ruki sighed, "So...I'm gonna have to come along, aren't I?

Jenrya and Ryou laughed, "You don't have to, but you know you want to~" Was Ryou's teasing response, as they began walking out the door.

"No, I don't want to be dragged around by you guys, but...I guess seeing how this turns out wouldn't be so bad."

Jenrya smiled at that. Ryou looked a little triumphant.

Then Ruki groaned, "Oh great, thanks to you guys, I haven't had anything to eat!"

The boys weren't sure what to say, but Alice put a hand on her shoulder, "Well...if you take your lunch along with you... It'll be like a field trip?"

Everyone stopped. Alice was making some sort of joke?

"Alice-san..." Jenrya whispered.

Ryou smiled at her, "Alice-san... Feeling better or something?"

She looked to Ryou, a surprised expression lingered for a few seconds, "I...was told...Ruki-san..." She seemed to be concentrating now, like there was something she was trying to remember. But it only remained for a few seconds, and then her usual voice returned, "It's the rational idea, if Ruki-san wants to witness the coming events."

Ruki couldn't really believe how Alice's speech patterns seemed to keep switching. Or maybe it was just the fact she _was_ speaking?

Either way, she shrugged, "It doesn't really matter..." She mumbled, looking at the ground. She lifted her head, looking straight ahead, "C'mon, are we gonna get this over with or not?"

They reached the classroom that Miyako, Hikari, Juri, Ayaka, Miki, Takato, Hirokazu and Kenta were hanging around quickly, clearly being as quiet as they could so as to overhear the conversation next door. They all had perplexed expressions.

Everyone glanced at Ruki and the others, "Ry-!" Kenta began, and Hirokazu put a hand over Kenta's mouth almost immediately, "Quiet, you idiot!" he hissed.

"C'mon guys..." Jenrya whispered,

"Let's leave them be." Ryou put in, beckoning them away. Hirokazu and Kenta crept over, as quickly as they could creep, and everyone else looked at one another.

Miyako looked stubborn, "But! This is really interesting!"

The rest looked doubtful, "It really isn't our business." Hikari told Miyako,

"But you heard what she just said!"

Hikari stood up, "Please, Miyako-san? I don't want to be caught..."

Takato, Juri, Ayaka and Miki had already made their decision to leave, though Ayaka looked a little wistful, "Aw, that was pretty interesting." Ayaka was walking next to Miyako as they made their way back to their classroom, sighing.

Miyako nodded, "I know I know! It's not fair..." They started discussing the events that had taken place. Juri, Miki and Takato joined in.

Hirokazu and Kenta looked bored, "Aw man, who cares?" Hirokazu said loudly, 'Weirdly, I want to agree with him.' Was an idle thought of Ruki's.

"Guess we'll have to get details later." Ryou said in a low voice to Ruki as the bell rang.

Ruki ignored him and focused on her hunger. 'Stupid Pretty boy...'

And so, the end of school came, "So, an explanation?" Jenrya inquired, walking over to Takato,

"Huh? Oh. Well..."

Juri wondered over, Miki and Ryou right behind her, and finally Ruki. Takato began his recount of events;

"So, we got there, and Junpei-san and Izumi-san were...well, I think they were reminiscing."

"It was really sweet!" Miki put in.

"It turned out..." Juri continued, "That Kouji-san, Kouichi-san and Takuya-san were there as well! They were all talking!"

"I said we should've gone about then..." Takato said, a sweat-drop appearing.

Juri mirrored his expression, "Miyako-chan would never have let us. Plus, well, I guess it was interesting to hear."

"But then..." Takato's face darkened, "There was a tap at the window, and a girl asked Izumi-san what she was doing..."

"She sounded really...disdainful..." Miki described.

Juri nodded, "And then...it was weird...Izumi-chan did a 360 personality change...It sounded like she'd stood up, and she started acting like...like she hardly knew them! The guys I mean!"

"And then the girl started saying something about her acting like she used to, a "weirdo" or something..." Takato told them, sounding confused, "Takuya-san and Kouji-san started defending her, and Junpei sounded confused...it was just confusing!"

"And then you guys just _had_ to turn up at that moment, huh?" Came Ayaka's resentful voice as she sauntered over to them, managing to glare at Ruki, Ryou and Jenrya in one sweeping look.

Juri giggled, "Poor Ayaka-chan! Well, let's talk about it tomorrow; I need to get home early, so see you!" Everyone began to say their goodbyes, and Ruki left with a quick "See you."

"Wow..." Was all Ryou said, as they made their way back home.

Ruki shrugged, "It went as I thought it would."

"You didn't tell them about Izumi-chan, then?" Ryou asked her.

"No, I didn't see the point. They were all too determined."

Ryou laughed, "Yeah, I guess. We've got several mysteries now, huh?"

Ruki glanced at him, "Huh?"

Ryou was still grinning, "Well, there's this whole thing Izumi-chan issue, then there's Alice-san." It took Ruki a moment for her to process that information.

"Oh no, we're not gonna "investigate" anymore!"

"I never said we'd investigate. Eheh. It's just all veeery mysterious." He looked straight ahead, clearly in deep thought.

"Oh, and then there's you, of course." Ruki said sarcastically. "Allowed to walk into school whenever he pleases, getting mysterious injuries, the list of suspicious things goes on..."

Ryou shrugged, "Ahh well, what're you gonna do? Anyway..." They'd reached the fork, "Well, we'll think about solving it all another time, see ya!"

""Solving it"? Yeah, sure." Ruki replied as he walked away.

As she entered her house, it occurred to her that maybe she should've tried to have gone to see Kouji, to see if he'd say anything. Her mum was out, and she dumped her stuff on the floor near the door. She shook her head, 'What am I thinking? I'm not going to get involved! I don't care about any of these people!' As she entered her room, the other realisation crashed on her. Amongst those idiots; in the midst of the laughter, the silly ideas; everything that made them think they were investigating some big mystery, celebrating the "accomplishment" of their team effort. There had been something there Ruki wasn't too sure she'd known before.

_"Did I...smile...?"_

_/_

[OLD NOTE]:Wow, that was out quicker than normal 0.0 Yesh yesh, hope you liked it! X3

~Revised: So close to finishing up all this revision of these chapters! I didn't find as much dialogue to edit this time, just grammar and the like, which makes me happy XD Hope you enjoyed~


	17. The sixtysixth day

~Revised~

[OLD NOTE (But still important ^^; )]*Please read* No, I'm not consistent when it comes to lessons, shootmeplz. XD I finally found out Japanese holidays and school dates. I've already missed quite a few... eheh –sweat drop- I'm changing the soccer tryouts to August 30th, sorry.

/

_"...Don't worry, Ruki-chan. Remember, you are you."_

"Grandma...?" Ruki slowly opened her eyes. Her alarm clock would go off in about 5 minutes, so what did it matter? She switched it off and got up.

It was now the 19th of June. It had gone pretty quickly, which Ruki found surprising. The main place she hung out was with Miyako, Ken and sometimes Koushirou in the classroom. Hikari had been joining them from time to time, and sometimes Daisuke came in to talk to (i.e try to flirt with) Hikari or argue with Miyako. Other times he dragged Ken off to play soccer. Daisuke wasn't really keen on Ruki. She wasn't surprised, but it didn't matter; she didn't like him. It didn't seem to change that he seemed to see her as some sort of potential rival, though. There was no way she was going to those soccer tryouts. They were all just a bunch of idiots... where had she heard this pattern of thought before?

Meanwhile, her classmates were having the idea that they were some sort of detective agency. Ruki had suggested some ideas herself, and then quickly regretted it, 'Don't encourage them! It's really...' When the idea of trying to help Junpei out some more, Miyako, who had previously been pushing them into this idea, had stopped being so enthusiastic.

"Oh, and Junpei-kun, of course!"

"..I dunno..."

"Eh? But that other time..."

"Yeah, well... I don't... T-there're a lot more other interesting people around! Let's find them! Yeah!"

It felt more like an excuse to gather gossip about people.

Ruki rubbed her eyes as she sat at the table, and began eating breakfast. She started thinking about the day ahead, which wasn't something she really enjoyed thinking about. Though, the idea of seeing those... she wasn't sure how to describe these people so much anymore. They were just idiots. Yeah, that's it! But still, seeing them didn't seem to be such a bad thing anymore. 'What am I thinking?'

She began eating, trying to concentrate on other, more mundane things.

"All the high school kids keep saying high school goes really fast. I have trouble believing that, all the pressure over exams and the future and all." Ryou said to her whilst they were walking to school, sounding like he found it funny.

"Well, as you get older, time goes quicker. My mum says that a lot." Ruki was surprised that she was carrying on the conversation. But it was true; her mum did talk about time going quickly.

"Heh, feels like you'll never understand, huh?"

"The sooner I'm outta school, the better." Ruki didn't intend to say this so harshly. Actually, she didn't mean to say it at all.

A look of hurt crossed Ryou's face, "Oh... thanks."

Ruki shook her head quickly, "N-No, I didn't mean...! I-I just meant that..." What had she meant? More importantly, why was she justifying herself? So she'd said something harsh, so what? This didn't change how bad she was starting to feel for saying it.

Ryou shrugged, "I guess I can understand, tired of all of us at the school, huh?"

Ruki shook her head again, "No, you guys aren't that bad at all, I actually kinda like—"She stopped herself. No way was she going to continue. How could she even begin to think that? Ryou had just caught her off guard was all, the stupid pretty boy.

It wouldn't have mattered if Ruki had finished her sentence or not anyway, Ryou clearly knew what she was going to say, "Heh... that's a compliment from you, I'd say." He grinned at her and said nothing more. This surprised Ruki, she would have thought Ryou of all people would have made a big deal of her saying something like that. Maybe he understood how much of a big deal it all was to her...? She felt herself blush ever so slightly. 'Woah, woah, wait. This, a big deal? You've gotta be kidding me! Stop it with these stupid sentimental thoughts!'

Despite her feeling ever so slightly resentful of Ryou for getting her to say what she said, she was grateful he wasn't making a fuss. Of everyone at the school, Ryou was definitely was someone she felt she could talk around more freely, and seemed to be less annoying all the time. Not that she'd ever admit it. 'He still gets on my nerves, dumb pretty boy...!'

For some reason, there was a particular memory of Ruki's that she couldn't get off her mind this day. She hated thinking about, but it kept entering her mind and once again, she pushed it away.

They reached school, and parted ways. Ruki met with Juri, Miki and Ayaka that morning. There were a few more girls there and they all talked enthusiastically to one another. Ruki never really understood why people would talk like that. She'd never really experienced a lot to get excited over as of late. Once again, Juri was in a great mood. Ruki didn't get it. Sometimes, Juri seemed the type who would say "Problems? What're those?" and continue being happy. Ruki knew her mum was dead, and that she had issues around the whole thing, so of course that wasn't true, but... she seemed so cheerful most other times that Ruki didn't think of it much. Juri was always cheerful, so the times when she'd seem so hostile toward her step-mother, it was difficult to take in. Ruki wondered if Katou-sensei really did want to show Juri that she cared, that she wanted to be close to Juri. It certainly seemed that way, but one could never be certain about people. If that was the case, Ruki couldn't help but feel like it wasn't all bad for Juri, at least this woman wanted to be a good mother to her.

Her Grandma's words echoed in her mind again, and the bell went.

Just before Ruki entered the classroom, she noticed a blonde boy wearing a dark red jacket and grey trousers walk past. He looked foreign. As he walked past, he noticed her staring and winked at her before hurrying away. Ruki blinked, 'Oh great, another Ryou.'

Juri poked her head round the door, "Ruki-chan? Are you okay?"

Ruki looked at her, and nodded, "Yeah...I think..." She said slowly.

Juri blinked, "You don't seem it... did something happen?"

Ruki shook her head, "No. Definitely not."

Juri nodded, "If you're sure~!" She went back in.

As Ruki got to her desk, Ryou walked past, "Did you notice the new transfer student?"

She narrowed her eyes, "How do you find these things out so quickly?"

He grinned, "It's good to be in the know!"

She shook her head, "Yeah, sure, Ryou."

He blinked, "...What happened to "Pretty boy"?"

She sat down in her seat, "Well, since you obviously enjoy being called it: Pretty boy, go back to your seat and leave me alone."

He laughed, "Sure thing, Hime."

She glared at him as he walked back to his seat, 'He's not doing the whole overly-flirtatious thing again, is he?'

"We got a transfer student~!" Miyako sang cheerfully. It was Miyako, Ken, Ruki, Koushirou and Izumi (Who'd said she'd felt like tagging along with Ruki that day).

Izumi had begun very formally with them all, but she seemed more relaxed at this point.

"...I dunno, he seems like a total flirt!"

"You've met him?" Miyako asked, surprised.

Izumi nodded, "Of course! Some of my...friends...dragged me to meet him. They kept going on about how cute he looked! And while I won't deny he was cute, it's not like I was going to swoon on meeting him!"

Miyako smirked at her, "So, first Takuya-kun and Kouji-kun, now Wallace-kun?"

Izumi looked annoyed, "A-Are those rumours still around? We were best friends a few years back, and I see 'em sometimes, come on...!"

Miyako gave Ruki a meaningful glance, then went back to Izumi, "So...you don't like them?"

"No! Jeez! I'd rather talk about this transfer student... do _you_ like him, Miyako-chan?"

Ruki sighed very quietly. Why were they talking about this? So this transfer student was a flirt, did it matter?

"N-No way! Although... he was really cute." Miyako replied, thoughtfully.

"You were getting on with him pretty well when I saw you." Koushirou said quietly, smiling.

Miyako gaped at him, "Y-You saw?"

Izumi grinned mischieviously,

"Well well, what's this?"

Miyako narrowed her eyes, "I thought you were trying to be all "polite" and stuff!" Izumi clearly didn't know how to respond.

Ken, who had only listened up 'till now, said, "Miyako-san, isn't that a bit harsh?"

Ruki was secretly surprised. She thought Ken and Miyako liked each other, yet from the sound of it, Miyako was flirting with this other boy and Ken didn't seem to mind.

"...W-well, at least I'm not a flirt like you, Miyako-chan!"

"Yeah you are! Remember-!"

Koushirou raised his hands, looking defeated, despite having no real part in the conversation (Except for that one line that seemed to have changed everything.)

"Does it really have to be like this...?"

Both Izumi and Miyako glared at him, but it was interrupted by the door being slid open,

"Ah, there she is! Izumi-chan! What're you doing here...?"

Izumi turned round, very surprised, "...oh." She whispered disappointedly.

She stood up, and bowed quickly to Koushirou, "Sorry about that, Sempai..." And with that, she rushed the other girls out.

Miyako, Ken, Koushirou and Ruki stared after her, wide-eyed.

"What just happened...?" Ken asked, bewildered.

Miyako shrugged, "I might tell you another time, Ken-kun."

She looked at Ruki,

"What're we gonna do about her?" Why were people asking her? Why were people even trying? It was Izumi's problem, no one else's. Despite that Ruki knew it was the truth, a part of her still wanted to help. After all, Izumi was certainly... Some form of acquaintance.

The bell rang. As Ruki walked out of the computer room, she encountered Takato and Jenrya,

"Hey." They said in unison.

Takato lowered his voice, "I just saw Izumi-san ushering some girls out... did her weird personality change thing happen again?" Ruki nodded, not really understanding Takato's concern. He barely knew Izumi, at least she thought he didn't.

Jenrya looked back in the direction she'd gone, "I still wonder how she got like that..."

"Who knows?"

Takato looked surprisedly at Ruki. "But, surely, we've got to find out!" He sounded determined, "I know it's none of our business, but... is Izumi-san happy like that?"

Ruki looked at the floor, 'Why don't they just ask her?'

Jenrya sighed a little, "Well, we won't get anywhere like this, come on..." They headed to class. Jenrya wasn't the type to get involved with fights. Ruki thought back to when they got Junpei. He had managed to stay calm. And then there were other times when she'd spoken to him; he always seemed really calm. Did he never get angry? Or anything?

"Ah, Ruki-chan! I forgot to ask! Are you looking forward to Ken's soccer match?" Miyako asked as soon as Ruki had stepped out of the classroom.

Ruki blinked, "Eh...?" She remembered vaguely about something, then, "Oh..." That conversation in the computer room all that time ago.

Miyako narrowed her eyes, "You..._didn't_ forget...did you?" It was almost like a threat.

Ruki put her hands in her pockets, "No. Who says I have to go?"

Miyako looked shocked, "Uh, I do! You didn't protest, therefore you don't mind! And you can't back down now!" Ruki started to remember Miyako being down about others coming, obviously wanting Ken to herself. What had changed that attitude...?

"Y'know why?"

"...Why?"

"'Cos you need to help me find others to invite!" And with that, she began dragging Ruki down the corridor.

"Oh, Miyako-chan, you forgot about me!" Said a flirtatious voice, mock-hurtly.

Miyako turned, "Oh, sorry Wallace-kun!"

It was the boy who'd winked at Ruki earlier. He walked up to Ruki, took her hand and shook it, "Hi Ruki-chan, nice to meet you."

She pulled her hand away, "Uh huh. Look, don't call me "-chan."

He scratched the back of his head, "Oh...'kay then, Ruki it is!" He flashed her a winning smile, and she only gave him a cold look in return. It was like what Ryou was like when they first met. Only, maybe this was actually how Wallace was? Or, Ruki thought, maybe if she was lucky he would change?

Miyako grinned, "Aw, Wallace-kun! Stop messing around!"

He grinned at her, "Sorry, Miyako-chan~!" Miyako grabbed Ruki, and dragged her onto the playground. The blazing heat immediately got to Ruki. She wanted to go back inside ASAP. It had been like this for days, but Ruki still didn't like it. It was always really hot during this time, but Ruki never really liked hot weather. She preferred cool or cold weather, 'Just like an "ice queen" she thought sarcastically.

"Ah, there's Hikari-chan!" Miyako exclaimed, waving her hands in the air. Hikari was standing with Takeru, Ken and Daisuke. Hikari waved back, and the group came over to them.

As they did, Ruki heard Miyako groan, "Ugh, not _Daisuke_."

The feeling was obviously mutual,

"Miyako..." Daisuke muttered.

Ignoring Daisuke, Miyako began addressing the other three, "So! Ken-kun! Your match is in two days!" Ken nodded, obviously knowing where she was going with this, "Ruki-chan, Koushirou-sempai and Wallace-kun have said they will go!"

Ruki couldn't remember when she said she'd go.

Hikari turned to Ken, "Sure, I'll go!" Daisuke gaped at her,

"Hikari-chan... I'm in that match against him!"

She giggled, "Well, I'll root for the both of you."

Takeru grinned, "Yep, it's not like we're going to be taking sides."

Daisuke pouted, "W-Well, it's not like I care...well, not about _you_."

Hikari sighed,

"It's Takeru, Daisuke-kun." Everyone except Daisuke and Ruki laughed.

Wallace leant toward Daisuke, "Wow, poor you."

Daisuke glared, "I don't need your sympathy!" he paused, "...Hey, where'd ya move from?"

Wallace laughed, "America. I moved here with my mom - said she wanted a change."

"Wow." Takeru said, "How'd you learn to speak Japanese so well?"

Wallace grinned, and deliberately glanced at Daisuke, "I've had several Japanese girlfriends."

Daisuke glared, "So? Guess you weren't popular in America, huh?"

"Daisuke-kun, that's mean..."

"E-Eh! B-But he...!"

Wallace winked at Hikari, "Don't worry about me, um... Hikari-chan?" Hikari nodded, smiling. This reaction made Daisuke's dislike of Wallace just a bit more obvious.

Miyako grinned, "Yeah, this is the new transfer student - Wallace-kun!"

'A total flirt.' Ruki agreed with what she'd heard 100% now. Though, he said he only lived with his mum. Ruki wondered if he had any similar experiences to her. Not that she cared/

"Ok! I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you're all gonna come! Great! We'll meet in the grounds after school!"

Izumi, who'd pretended to walk past casually, wondered over to them, "Hey...sorry, I overheard, uh...would...would I be allowed to come?" She sounded timid. Izumi? Timid?

Miyako put her hands on her hips, "Izumi-chan! Say it normally and _then_ we'll consider!" Takeru, Daisuke and Wallace looked a little confused.

Izumi narrowed her eyes at Miyako, then shook her head, "If you don't want me to come..." A vein appeared on Miyako's temple.

"Dammit Izumi-cha-!" Izumi winked at her and whispered "Of course I'm gonna come anyway!"

Some girls, obviously Izumi's friends, walked past, "Eh? Izumi-chan? Are they being mean?"

Izumi turned to them and shook her head, "No!" She called, "...See you guys." She said quietly without turning back to them, and ran off toward the other girls.

Miyako stared after her, grinning, "That's more like it!"

Hikari beamed, "Well, that was promising! Kinda."

Miyako nodded. "Next she needs to stop bothering with those stupid girls. Anywayz, let's hang out for awhile!"

Wallace folded his arms, "So, who was that cutie?"

Miyako laughed, "Oh, be quiet Wallace-kun!"

Daisuke glared at him, and muttered,

"Stupid kid, thinks he's a player."

Takeru sighed, "Yeah, I guess I'll have to agree with you there. Though, he's far from stupid." He said as quietly as he could.

Wallace clearly pretended not to have heard. "So, Takeru and Daisuke?" Daisuke gave him a dissaproving look, and Takeru smiled.

"Yeah?" Daisuke replied.

"Nice to meet you."

Takeru grinned, holding out a hand. Wallace shook it.

Daisuke gaped, "Takeru! You traitor!"

"So, you and Ken-san are going against each other in a match, I take it?" Wallace asked.

Daisuke and Ken grinned at each other. Now they were off the subject of Daisuke's jealousy, he was back to his normal self, "You bet'cha!"

"Just like always."

"I wonder who I'll cheer for?" Wallace wondered aloud

"It's not like it'll help." Daisuke told him, looking triumphant.

He turned to Ruki, "And are you gonna be there?"

Ruki gave him a cold look, "I guess."

Ken put a hand on Daisuke's shoulder, "Hey Daisuke, let's just concentrate on the match."

Daisuke sighed loudly, "Yeah yeah..."

Wallace looked at his watch, "...Can't we just skip class?"

Everyone looked at him, surprised. Daisuke narrowed his eyes.

"...or not?" Wallace continued innocently,

"I will! Bet you'll chicken out!" Daisuke jumped at this opportunity of competition with this new kid.

Wallace smiled at him, "Nah."

Ruki wanted to laugh. It was fun to watch rivalries unfold. Wait, did she just want to laugh?

Ken scratched the back of his head, "Is that... such a good idea...?"

"If they end up in trouble that's their problem.

Daisuke looked at Ruki, annoyed, "You wish!"

"Uh huh."

"Hmph." He turned and grinned at Hikari, "So, will I seem cool if I skip class?"

Hikari rolled her eyes, "It's not such a good idea, Daisuke-kun..."

Wallace leaned forward, "...gonna chicken out, Daisuke?"

Daisuke sighed,

"N...No!" he turned back to Wallace determinedly, "No way!"

And so it was decided; Daisuke and Wallace would skip class.

"...Did you used to skip class a lot at your old school, Wallace-san?" Takeru asked.

Wallace shrugged, "It's not like we were _allowed_... but I did. Some other kids did. I guess I'm gonna be a bad influence here, huh?"

Hikari giggled.

"It's not like no one here ever skips." Ruki shrugged.

Daisuke seemed thankful Ruki had said this, "Yup! It's nothing new!"

Miyako raised her hand, clearly not caring about this conversation anymore "So, Ken-kun! Me, Hikari-chan, Wallace-kun, Takeru-san, Ruki-chan, Izumi-chan and Koushirou-senpai will be coming to the match!" She looked gave Daisuke a grudging side look, "...You'll be there already..."

Daisuke put folded his arms behind his head, "_Please _don't cheer me on, Miyako - you'd only make me lose."

Miyako glared at him,

"Yeah! Because you'd be distracted by my pretty looks!"

Daisuke gaped at her, "Hell no!"

They glared at each other, and Takeru waved his hands, "C'mon you two..."

Ruki still was having a hard time working out exactly when she said she'd turn up.

The bell went a short while later. Just as they split up, Hikari said something that seemed odd, "Ruki-san...if you don't say something, we won't know what you're thinking. And I don't mean your little comments either..."

Miyako overheard, and gave Ruki and evil grin, "That's right! Say something! You're going with us whether you like it or not; but if you wanna protest, protest!"

Hikari smiled a little, "Um, yeah...something like that."

"It's annoying!" Miyako said loudly, as they walked away.

"Miyako-chan... that was kinda mean..." Hikari told her.

Ruki felt a little angry. Of course she didn't want to say anything; why should she? The anger faded a little as she thought how it was true; they didn't know how she was feeling, so how would they know? She didn't really need to feel angry...although she still did a little. As she walked to class she wondered; 'Do the others find it annoying...? I guess they would, and it's understandable...' Should she speak up a little more? '...it's not that I care!' She told herself. 'They're the annoying ones anyway!' It was getting old, though.

"Izumi?" Kouji repeated, surprised at why Ruki had asked. Then his eyes narrowed, "Why...?"

"I just wanna know." Kouji looked away, then back at Ruki. The clearing never really changed. The heat had cooled significantly, meaning Ruki was able to come out here without feeling she'd collapse.

"It was...half way through grade six. Izumi, Me, Takuya, Junpei (Though he was in the next year up) were great friends. Tomoki liked to tag along too. We'd been in the same class since grade two. Then, in grade six, we were put in different classes... We still met up, but we had other people we were friends with."

"Well, you got fangirls." Ruki murmered, clearly amused.

A little earlier, she'd overheard a bunch of girls talking about Kouji excitedly.

He glared at her for a few seconds before resuming, "And when we got together something like a week after the second semester started, she... well, she didn't even hang out with us. I remember there was a rumour that..." He looked a little embarrassed as he continued, "...me and Takuya liked Izumi. Takuya and Izumi always got annoyed whenever someone said something, and I just ignored them. Those people were always so stupid. But then, when she didn't show up on the day we were all gonna meet up, she was hanging out with the people that were always spreading the rumours...Takuya..." he laughed a little, "He was so pissed off. Izumi started acting like a total airhead with no opinion, and acting all kind and sweet. Before that, she was kinda... blunt. Energetic, but strong-willed, and even though that might not be what everyone appreciated about her, that's Izumi." He looked at the ground and smiled sadly, "Well, that _was_ Izumi." He looked back up and at Ruki, "Why so interested - finally got a heart?"

Ruki narrowed her eyes, "Be quiet. I was just curious...and the guys in my class wanted to know."

Kouji raised an eyebrow, "...Did Junpei say something?"

Ruki shrugged, "Well, you haven't really given me any new information, but whatever. Thanks anyway."

Kouji imitated Ruki's shrug, "It's none of your business anyways." He didn't say much after that.

As Ruki left, she heard him mutter something about wondering what had changed Izumi. That was a pretty big question, huh? The guys who had been bothering Junpei had mentioned something... maybe Ruki should approach them sometime. As she opened the house door, she pushed the idea away. She really didn't need to get so involved. The others might've thought about it and come up with an idea, anyway.

Ruki yawned as she took her shoes off. Her mum seemed to be out. There was Ken's match to think about as well. She would go. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been to (or played in, for that matter) a soccer match. It must've been with-

"What does it matter?" She muttered, heading upstairs.

/

[OLD NOTE]Wow, it's been over a year since I began this O.o How time flies... XD Hope everyone still likes it~

~Revised: Finally finished revising all chapters! I can't promise a quick upload of the next chapter, but I'll try to get on with writing it as soon as possible . I really hope people still enjoy this! ^^~


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